If I only had a dime for every time a disbelieving woman has looked at me and said, “I can barely survive with two–how do you manage with eight? You’re a *better* woman than me.” (What does that mean, anyway?)

I can assure you…I have no virtue or special gifting…in fact, I am daily reminded of how inadequate I am as a mother and wife. I don’t choose to allow the Lord to enlarge our family because I’m *good* at it.

And though I love being a mom, I wouldn’t want to pretend that it’s dreamy all the time. This is hard work! However, it is not as hard as some perceive it when we fully understand the workings of a home.

As the role of women in the home has been undermined, we have lost the “how-to” keys.

One of the main missing elements of the keeper at home is the understanding that above all else, she is a MANAGER.

I think when people see my children and me together, when they get through counting , they imagine a one-woman show and then their head blows off.

We’ve become accustomed to the idea that to mother children is to essentially do all the work ourselves, “sparing” our little ones the burdensome, awful tasks that are ours.

But when homemaking is embraced as a vital part of life, and underneath the work we can find a deep sense of privilege, then part of that privilege includes sharing it with our children, which lightens the load and transfers a profound sense of belonging in their hearts. “Work” becomes what it is…a normal, healthy part of life; and our children aren’t steam-rolled as adults with that reality.