Job Offer: no pay, long hours, always on call. Benefits will last a lifetime!

Whenever Steve and I have some time to ourselves to sit down and talk I always seem to ask him the same question.....What are you learning in life?

In order to ask the question I feel like I need to be able to answer it myself.

So here goes with what I'm learning in life.

I'm learning that sometimes the little things are the most important. Things like spending quality time with my family and not over committing my time to things that are really non-essential.

I'm learning to think about what I'd like to call "the 5 year rule". Will it really matter in 5 years? If the answer is no, then I don't feel bad about letting things slide. I'm learning that this precious time with my constantly growing child is really what I'm called to right now.

So many times people spend their whole life looking for their calling. Guess what mine became the day I got pregnant? Caring for this child. I don't take for granted this tiny human being that God has graciously lent me. I know that raising this child to know and love Jesus and be good to and respect others has now become my calling and I don't take that lightly. I don't ever want to be the mom or wife that puts my family on the back burner, so for this season of life my calling is to my family and I embrace that with all of my heart. Sometimes I find myself feeling down because I feel somewhat insignificant. I struggle somedays with feeling like my whole life revolves around pumping, feeding the baby, changing diapers and folding laundry. Really though, I know there's so much more to it than that and I want to treasure every single moment that I have.

I can't even begin to count how many times my mom has told me that the most devastating moment of her life was when she first went back to work and had to take us kids to daycare after my dad left us. To this day, she still feels guilty that she had 2 more years at home with Andy than she did with me. At least once a week I get an email from her telling me how proud she is that I decided to take a leap of faith to quit my job in order to stay home with Asher. She said those few years she had home with us kids were the absolute best years of her life.

I may feel insignificant, but I know that God has called me to "just be a mom" in this season of life and ultimately that is the most important job I've ever had. I'm learning to focus on what's really important. This may be a lifelong lesson, but at least I'm learning as I go.