Mother Is My Occupation

When I first became a mother, I struggled with feeling inadequate as a woman.  Coming from a family of inspirational, hard-working women (who at times, were the family bread winners), I felt like staying at home was a waste of my abilities.  I also felt like the working women I knew (or the new women I'd meet) would look down their noses at me when they found out I was staying at home.  Even now, it's always the same conversation, "What do you do for a living Danielle?"...  "I'm a stay-at-home-mom"...  "Oh.... how nice."  I felt like people were judging me, assuming that I was a loser who was just milking the system... just like I used to judge people that didn't have stable jobs.  My pride would get the best of me, and many evenings I would be in tears as I questioned my "calling."  I caved into believing that the world's definition of "success" was correct, and that not having a big "successful" career automatically made me a failure.

Over time, God continued to work on me and helped me to see things from His perspective.  My husband and I both knew that this was the life God was calling us to.  We made the decision before Elijah was born that I would stay home and raise our son.  We decided that I would be the one to teach him the important things... how to walk, how to talk, how to be polite and respectful, who Jesus is, and everything in between.  We decided that I would be the one to kiss every boo boo, share every smile, and witness every one of his firsts instead of paying someone else who wouldn't appreciate those special moments to rob them from me.

Now, almost two years later, I am beginning to reap the seeds I have sown.  My heart fills with pride with every "please" and "thank-you" that escape the lips of my darling boy.  I have a good child.  I have a son that is obedient (well, most of the time, lol.  We're all works in progress!).  I have a son that is excited about learning new things.  I have a son that can count to 10 and name most of his letters and colors.  I have a son that can name all the different parts of the guitar...

prefers books to most of his toys...

and can name every sea creature in the many ocean books on his shelf....

Every day, God is reminding me that despite what the world says, I am successful.  I love, I teach, and I follow where my heavenly Father leads.  My obedience has brought me to a place where my abilities are used for a greater purpose and bring me more joy and a sense of completion than I ever could have imagined.  For this, I am thankful.

As a side note, I wanted to introduce you to one of my favorite teaching tools.  All kids love T.V., but as a mother, I'm not always fond of my little one wasting the day away in front of the television.  That being said, I do allow Elijah to watch some of his favorite shows.  One of these shows in particular, is a favorite of mine too...

Word World teaches kids a lot about letters and building words (and it's super cute!!!).  All the images in the videos are shaped out of the letters that spell out their name... for instance, the dog above is made out of his letters "D-O-G."  Eli loves it!  And the best part is that I got both of these videos at Target for $5 each!  Yay!!!

Have a beautiful day today!  If you are a fellow stay at home mother, stand tall in knowing that what you do is important and that you are making a difference in this world.  And when you have days that you don't feel so proud, know that I am proud of you :)

With Love, 

Danielle Renae