October 10, 1998

This was the day 10 years ago that I decided to quit working full time and be at home with my kids. Well, kid - singular - at the time, since I was pregnant with my first and had no idea that I would eventually have 4 children. I was driving home from my job as a hairstylist that I loved, struggling with what to do when the baby was born. I just didn't know if I should find day care or work part time or stay home. I can still remember the place on the road that I was; I was listening to a radio program with a mom on it who was talking about being at home with her kids, choosing this option for how she was going to raise them while they were little. I felt God nudge me in my spirit saying,"That's what I want you to do". I remember being a little surprised at first, and then becoming very excited because now the decision had been made. Fast forward 10 years...

Yesterday I took Marky shopping for a few long sleeve shirts. Just the 2 of us went to Old Navy. 10 years has gone by since I became a mother. Marky was born at 5 pounds 11 ounces, 17 1/2 inches long (or short!). She has always been small; I've always had to buy her clothes much smaller than her age, but yesterday we finally bought clothes meant for a child her age. Size larges and size 10s! It was a poignant moment, in the dressing room realizing that she is growing up so fast; watching her deal with her petite genes ("I'll have to roll up these sleeves because my arms are short, this vest bothers my neck because my neck is short, these jeans are too long") in the same way that I do (we can thank her tiny grandma for that).

I thought back to that day 10 years ago and realized how much I have been able to experience by making the decision to be at home with my now 4 kids. Some days it is unbelievably boring, hard, mundane, and I know that I have had many moments of self pity and complaining; Some years there have been circumstances where the choice to be with them was out of my hands. However, I am really happy that God directed my path the way that He did 10 years ago. I truly am very thankful for all of the memories that I have stored about my children - memories that made their way into my heart through my choice to be around them a lot. Yesterday, in the dressing room at Old Navy, I realized that no matter how slow or fast my kids change, they do in fact change. I want to watch and absorb all of who they are as they make these changes. I'm so blessed to grow and change myself because of them. I can only imagine what the next 10 years will be like.