My Does and Don'ts of Packing

• Do overpack:  you'll definitely want options!
  
• Don't forget your hair dryer...  been there, done that.  Not fun.  
  
• Do take your own pillow... they're never the same in the hotel regardless of how nice the place is.  
• Don't forget to change your pillowcase if they're usually white:  You don't want the cleaning ladies to think it's one of the hotel's cases!  
• Do make a list of things you want to see/do while you're gone.  
• Don't forget to take pictures of each thing so you'll remember it forever. 

Enjoying My New Camera

Photo Ramblings from NY

So You Want to Be a Homemaker?

There's nothing wrong with that!

When I was in high school, I often found myself having the following conversation:  What are you going to do when you graduate?  Where do you want to go to college?  What career do you want?  I would then explain that I was definitely going to college, planned on majoring in music (it later changed to elementary ed.), but I did not plan on having a “career” because I wanted to eventually be a wife and a stay-at-home mom (domestic engineer).  This always got strange looks and reactions, especially from my fellow students and professors. 

This post is really addressed to younger girls.  It’s okay to want to be a wife and a mother!  Do you need to plan in case that doesn’t happen within “your” time frame?  Sure you do.  You don’t want to be living off your parents when your 48 if you haven’t found “the one.”  However, it’s okay to prepare for the homemaker position you desire (in fact, I encourage you to do just that). 

That said, I don’t think that means you should stop math in the sixth grade because you want to be a stay-at-home mom.  It’s my opinion (I know, I know, you never asked for it) that you should take every opportunity to learn something new, whether it’s math, science, or Bible.  Whatever you learn, the Lord will allow you to use it for his glory.  What if you’re a missionary one day and you’re teaching kids on the field?  What if you decide to homeschool your kids?  Just because you want to “stay at home” you don’t have an excuse to slack off on your education. 

So stay the course.  Do your best in school.  Take classes that challenge you.  Study your Bible.  Prepare for your future; be open to whatever God would have that future to be!

Note: Perhaps I should go back to the bank and thank the lady who helped us for sparking a good blogging idea in my mind!  I would have never thought I’d get three posts out of one statement.  This thought is simply sticking with me, though.  

Proud Homemaker, Continued

I bought the book Created to Be His Help Meet (along with the companion journal) by Debi Pearl yesterday.  Before David and I were married, I read bits and pieces of this book that I feel really helped our marriage before it even got started.  Now, some young, newly married girls at church want to begin going through it on a regular basis, so I bought it myself. 

As I was delving into the first chapter, I found a thought that went along with my last post.  Debi Pearl says:

If you are a wife, you were created to fill a need, and in that capacity you are a “good thing,” a helper suited to the needs of a man.  This is how God created you and it is your purpose for existing.  You are, by nature, equipped in every way to be your man’s helper.  You are inferior to none as long as you function within your created nature, for no man can do your job, and no man is complete without his wife… A unisex society is a senseless society – as society dangerously out of order.

I like her point.  We’re not inferior to anyone if we’re doing the job God created us to do.  Just because we’re different doesn’t mean we’re inferior.  I really like that point.  I think the world is convinced that a biblical view of women is that they are inferior to the men, and that simply isn’t so.