I have a good friend who’s children are nearly grown and already have or are preparing to leave the nest.  She spent the past 20 years at home at just recently re-entered the workforce.  When I asked her how it felt to be working full time outside the home she replied, “It’s a LOT easier than being a homeschool mom that’s for sure!”

I suspected for years that that statement would be true.  I haven’t worked outside the home in 16 years, so the memory of working full time is a little tainted by the fact that it was a younger pre-child woman who was doing the working.  I remember it as being fun, sometimes challenging, but not particularly “hard.”  Irritating at times, but I can’t recall anything as important or as difficult as say, teaching my daughter to read. 

Over the years I have worked sporadically at home doing various things such as medical transcription and freelance editing and desktop publishing.  It was extremely difficult to work more than a few hours a week, not because the work was hard (I enjoyed the work), but because there was too much work to be done for home and the stress of wanting both jobs to be done perfectly drove me up the wall!

I have children to raise -to teach, a husband to nurture and support, a house to maintain, food to prepare to nourish their bodies.  These are my God-given responsibilities.  It is my calling to be home even though sometimes I long for those days when my “job” consisted of set tasks that could be accomplished and praised instead of tasks that are recurring, repetitive, and largely taken for granted.

If a woman works outside the home, and has a healthy marriage and well-adjusted kids, good for her.  Great for her really, I don’t have any idea how she manages that!  But I say, before you accuse anyone of not working ask yourself, is her marriage healthy?  Is her family healthy?  Are her kids happy?  If the answer is yes, she works.  Believe me she works hard.

Yes, I’m a geek, and yes, I LOVE it.  As my daughter says, “she wants to marry it.”  Well, maybe not marry it, but I don’t see myself parting ways with it anytime soon.

Kindle Fire, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways:

1.  The reading area (screen) is significantly larger than the regular kindle.

2.  The text is very crisp and clear and I can change the size of the font, the font itself, and/or the screen color if my eyes get tired.

3.  I can play Angry Birds, Sudoku, check Facebook and my email, plus read library books – the ultimate Mom’s break in a box that fits in my purse!

4.  The books have pictures/maps/tables in color and I can read them!

5.  It’s shiny and I could (did) set the device name to “Precious.”

Are there any cons, you ask?  Well yes Precious has 2 to my knowledge.

1.  It’s a bit heavy, so it’s a little uncomfortable to hold without a cover – the cover balances it a bit and makes it easier to hold even with one hand.

2.  The touch interface is a little picky.  This could be operator error, a learning curve may be involved.  Certain actions are determined by a quick tap, and other are by a longer touch, but I haven’t quite got the hang of which is what and how long those are so navigating is still a little bit of trial and error for me.  I’m hoping that when I figure this out it will be smooth sailing and that its me and not the interface that is quirky.

So, now I’m off to cuddle with my Precious (and hide from my family so I can slack off read in peace)!

I admit that I have been quite remiss in educating my children about WWII.  I have lots of excuses, but in large part, I was waiting for them to be old enough to at least partially comprehend the horrific scenarios that were in play around the world.

Today I see the articles about the remembrance groups disbanding.  I am saddened because there are few of the survivors of the war left to tell us the stories and fewer of those who actually survived the attack itself.  I have questions I would love to ask them.  My grandparents are gone, and when they were here I was too young to think to ask.  My parents are too young, my in-laws were only young children when it happened.  But I wonder…

Were Americans sorry they had stuck their head in the sand for so long?  Did that attack make them feel empathy for those in other countries who were already being attacked, conquered, and brutalized?  Did they feel blessed that they had so much freedom here in America that they felt compelled to come to the aid of others?  Did they want their children to be taught to be vigilant in recognizing the perils of evil and to find a way to keep it from spreading?

I wonder if they would see any parallels between then and now – the atrocities that go unchecked throughout the world and the outcry of the people here that we should not intervene even in the face of attacks on our people.  When I was a child, the lesson I learned was that sacrifices are made for the good of your family, your nation, mankind, and that those who make those sacrifices are heroes.  What I see being taught now is refusal to acknowledge that there is good and evil, and those who choose to define it are radicals to be mocked and anyone who chooses to try to stop it is a fanatic to be feared. 

It is a sad day indeed when we cannot even recognize evil or at the very least are afraid to label it as such for then we can never defeat it and we will have no more heroes.

May we remember those heroes past and present who still take a stand for the good of others.

1.  I am thankful that my family lives close enough that we could spend Thanksgiving together with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law (and her parents and grandma!).  I love spending holidays all together.

2.  I am thankful that my oldest daughter is such an atypical kid.  She went black Friday shopping with us for the first time this year, and we had a great time.  I was really proud, however, of the fact that she was so into finding the perfect gifts for others (nobody tell her teenagers are supposed to be selfish!).

3.  I am thankful that God has provided for us so well that we can enjoy an abundant Thanksgiving and are able to pass on some of those blessings to others.

4.  I am thankful for a doctor who finally listened (90-minutes worth of listening!) to us tell her what is going on with Boo and is going to look for the answers.

5.  I am thankful that I am married to a man who tries to listen when God speaks.

6.  I am thankful that I listened when God spoke and was able to bless someone else by obeying!

7.  I am thankful that even though society seems to be pushing constantly towards persecution of those who dare to proclaim God’s grace and Jesus’ name, I am still free to wish you all a Merry Christmas and all of God’s blessings.  May we all try to be thankful every day.

I am especially thankful today for my Mom.  She’s my most loyal blog reader and loves me enough to even tell me when I’m being too hard on my husband.  Through all the headaches and gray hair I gave her over the years she has always been a great mom and now she’s my best friend.  Happy Birthday Mom!