I follow many blogs of other home school families, crafters, and work at home mommies. These are all relevant to me. There are days that I look at what others are doing and I get down on myself. I keep thinking that there is so much more that I could be doing and I am hurting my kids by not doing these things. Or my house would look so much better if I made time to do these crafts and/or buy these decorations. It is true that if you look you will find someone better then you, even if you're the best. I do find comfort in the fact that I post my best to facebook, I pin my best on pinterest, and I blog my best on here. We don't put our mistakes out there for the world to see. So the people I follow on different blogs I know that they put their best out there too. I also know that they make mistakes and don't post about them. ;)
Keeping up with other mommy friends is also a way to beat yourself up! I have some amazing people in my life and they are all different. That is important because we cannot live up to our friends, they have different kids, different jobs, different situations, and are just different from us!!!!!!! I have a beautiful sweet friend who is a home school mommy of four who I admire and strive to be like. She shows Christlike behaviors and so do her kids, she home schools all her kids, and is just plain fun to be around! I struggle some times to get through our schedule some days with just my two sweet kiddos! It is easy to get down on the fact that there are others successfully schooling their larger families, they are keeping their homes cleaner, or their kids are better behaved. Well the fact is that we are different! The way I school is different, I may or may not be able to clean during the day, and my kids are different! It is my hope that I enjoy friendships and resists my "womanly instincts" to compare!
What society says I should do as a mother. Well first of all it seems taboo to home school. If you would have asked me a couple of years ago I would have told you that my children would be in the public schools and I would be teaching but they wouldn't be in my class. I was convinced I would retire in the classroom and never miss a year of teaching! God eats "plans" for breakfast!!! I was given the opportunity to work for an amazing ministry which allows me to work at home and have the opportunity to home school my kids. Honestly at first we started home schooling out of convenience and then after attending our states home school convention we were convicted to continue! Homeschooling is a conviction my husband and I share and we would love to talk to you about it but we don't look down on anyone for their choice of education as we hope you do the same. (If you are considering homeschooling please check this out!) I don't wish to push my convictions onto you as they came from God for me, He will convict you of some other things that He won't convict me of. I can't live up to societies standards of what a mother should be because it wouldn't benefit our family.
All of this is wonderful and I know it all to be true, but I still struggle with these things. I struggle with jealousy of others and trying to keep up with others. I know that I have to do what is best for my family, my schedule, my personality, and my convictions. We can run ourselves ragged trying to be someone else or we can enjoy the short time we have with our family. I know that time is better spent being me and making memories!
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