Going my way?

I have mentioned before that I walk on weekday mornings with a friend. It is about a 15 minute drive to her home. We walk for about 1/2 an hour and then I drive home. I find it interesting, that most mornings when I drive home I am the only car on the road (within my view) heading north for the whole ride. I am definitely going against the flow. You know what? I love it. Don't misunderstand - I do not like to "stick out" in a crowd, I am a blend-in sort of person. I have no desire to be the center of attention, quite to the contrary. But I do enjoy doing things differently from others. Peer pressure had very little pull on me growing up. Never could understand how being rude or mean to others made a person "cool". People who are sincere and caring are cool in my book. Always have been. So, to put it lightly I was not the most popular girl in school (I was horribly shy) and you want to know the honest-to-goodness truth? I didn't want to be. REALLY. It was not a desire I had. I had a few good friends and that was enough. Hated all the clicky, catty stuff about school, couldn't wait to get OUT. 

As an adult I chose to do things a little differently than a lot of people, certainly most of the people I knew. As a young woman, I chose to use cloth diapers, stay home and make that my career (not the house- my family and my HOME), breastfeed, make my own baby food, grow most of our produce and can and freeze it, eat mostly wild game for our protein, Christian school for a year for our oldest son and then homeschooling - all the way through the high school years for both of our boys. Each of these met with multiple questions and unfortunately even the loss of some friends. "You use cloth diapers??? Why would anyone use them when disposables are so easy?" - health benefits, and cost. "Why are you going to quit your job and stay home? You can't afford it. And you'll be bored." Couldn't afford NOT to. Home is where I needed to be. Time will pass quickly and my babies will be grown. (Ain't that the truth!!) "Homeschooling? Why would anyone homeschool???" God wanted me to. 

I received many more questions over the years and many more rude comments. Disgusting was said at least once to me concerning one healthy choice for my babies. I would try my hardest to kindly reply and then move on. The negativity never swayed me from doing what I wanted or what I thought was right. As a pregnant, single 19 year old I was told I was STUPID for not having an abortion. All that did was firm my resolve to have my son.

Please don't think I'm tooting my own horn here. I made many mistakes along the way, some really big ones unfortunately. And I was not alone in making many of these good choices. I have made some wonderful friends over the years that have been a great encouragement to me and even paved the way ahead of me being a Godly example to me.


Well... now I find myself at another season of life. Both of my sons are grown (well.... mostly... kinda... :)...) and we are done homeschooling. The question I get repeatedly now is, "When will you be getting a job?" or something similar. Guess what? I have no plans at present to get a job, who knows what the future holds, but I know for the unforeseeable future I plan to stay HOME. God called me here and He hasn't changed His call for me yet. Fact is, I don't where I'd find the time to work outside the home for more than a few hours a week. I'm busy here. We don't have much money - I don't want it someone else can have it. :)- my car is OLD and was actually given to me, I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores and like to make stuff (soap, candles, skirts, etc.) I prefer to cook from scratch and love to use the food we grow or my husband gets hunting (this is a much healthier choice, too!) Our expenses are not great and I love to do things that help to stretch the funds we have. 


So some morning if you are heading south on a major road in Maine, you might see me driving north and wonder where is that woman going this time of day when everyone else (seemingly) is headed south? Don't worry about me too much though, the odds are I'll be smiling- happy to be going in the direction God has called me.