Reclaiming the Title of Homemaker

I've had many different opinions and phases in my homemakers journey.  I've been a young wife, mother, teacher, foster parent, bread winner, single parent, all the way back to a wife again.  One thing that has never changed was my responsibility to care for the house and the people in it.  That's not to say I've done it all by myself by any means, but I am saying that responsibility has always been my primary job.

This is my niece Emma, she loves to help in the kitchen!

Through out the years I've loved homemaking but also hated it.  I've paid someone to do it for me instead of taking everything on myself.  There were years when my kids were little and I felt like all I did was cook, clean, change diapers, and do laundry to the present day where the only item that has been scratched off the list is diaper changing.  When I was a young mother I would hurry and get the house in tip top shape just so I could be done with my "work" for the day and then spend the rest of the day out and about with the kids.  I viewed  housework as a necessary evil of being a stay at home mom.  Now I view it as a wonderful privilege to be able to stay at home and take care of my family and home!

McKenna and I were goofing off one night when Racey snapped this picture of us.

Sure, the kids are growing up and two have moved out just to come home every other week it seems like, but now I don't rush to finish my work each day.  I realize my work will not be finished till I am gone.  Instead I try to perfect my work.  When I started making homemade biscuits they were pitiful looking.  Racey said they tasted fine so I shouldn't worry about the way they looked.  But that wasn't good enough for me!  I decided I would make homemade biscuits every morning till I could serve anyone a hot butter biscuit and not be embarrassed by the look of them.  Why would I care that much you might ask?  Because I feel that my family and this home is where I'm meant to be and I want to give the people in it everything I have, not just what I can hustle together in thirty minutes or so.  I feel like homemaking is a lost art.  Women used to perform miracles with the smallest resources.  You were a prized wife and mother based on your homemaking skills, not the misguided ideas of the modern woman.  The homemaker sixty years ago was proficient in cooking, baking, cleaning, budgeting, mending, sewing, knitting or crocheting, gardening, and canning, just to name a few.  Now it appears the only real thing we are proficient in is shopping!  We have given up a huge skill set and replaced it with the art of pushing a cart around a store and filling it with pre-made items that are ready to go as soon as we get them home. We have dumbed ourselves down in the name of convenience.  I believe it's high time for us to take back the job of true homemaking and reclaim the title of homemaker.  It's a title you should be proud to carry.

This is Layna & McKenna when they were 3 1/2 & 1 1/2.

I want to encourage you to start somewhere!  It's never too late, your family is never too young or old.  You can re-skill yourself and get more personal satisfaction in doing something yourself than you might imagine.  Just this weekend we had friends over to grill out and Layna, my 20 year old, came home after work and picked up a plate. Before she took a bite she asked me if I had cooked everything myself.  It mattered to her whether I had made the buns or bought them at the store, it mattered to her whether the macaroni & cheese was homemade or from a box....it mattered!  That's a feeling of personal satisfaction this mama is happy to work for.