Progress in Professionalizing Motherhood

Some weeks are just miracles. I try hard to step outside of myself and my week to see the beauty in the mundane. This week has been SUCH a good, proactive, healing week... and I've been praising God for it.  I've been on top of my work, got extra time soaking in the Living Water, took initiative & got in some exercise, lots of laughing with my fam, sophia making all kinds of progress, blessing matt with his countdown calendar, zoe already getting better with swim lessons, growing by heaps & getting organized as a mom... AND I finished reading another book.

I'm feeling good... like I could do anything. And yet, I think I've been realizing more than anything else this week how much work there is when it comes to making a home. I'm coming to realize to how when I became a parent, my life is forever changed... and I have to quite wishing and hoping for a different reality, but I need to embrace the reality that's right in front of me. I think Matt & I both are getting better at knowing our life right now is as a family (our time, energy, and resources all go towards this cause!). This quote really encouraged me this week in homemaking & helped me to see how important it is!! My heart is at home!

Cultivate your skills, not only of housekeeping, but of making a home for your family. As you know already, they are not always exactly the same.

Housekeeping consists of the laundry, the dishes, the toilets, and floors that need to be scrubbed, but homemake is something else. The difference between housekeeping and homemakeing is the difference between a barren field and lovely, fragrant garden.

Homemaking is the deliberate cultivation of beauty and productivity in family relationships. Homemaking is about helping your family feel loved and comforted. Homemaking is about celebrating each other, and about caring for each other, as well as for your friends and extended families and even the occasional stranger. Anyone can keep a house. Not everyone bothers to make a home.

I've been having a blast preparing for months, maybe even years for Matt's 30th birthday. I finally got to give him part of his gift last week, a countdown calendar that counts down to his 30th! For each day, he opens a window and it has a fun little surprise underneath. I'm posting each fun thing on facebook that he gets, so we're "friends" on there, check it out. For now, here's the front of the calendar:

I am hoping it will be truly fun for him & that he can enjoy it!!