It was a huge sacrifice for me to start staying home from work to mother our four children full time. It was a also a very hard adjustment emotionally and financially. It was true that the babysitter was making more money per hour then I was, but we still had more money.
This change is very evident to me today. We are almost finished with a major house rearrange because my 4 year old grew out of his toddler bed. That meant we had to move the 3 boys to a bigger room, give our daughter their room (moving her out of ours) and finally deciding to trade our bedroom and the basement living room.
Today, as we enter the final stages of the transition, I am cleaning a 12 ft by 18 ft handwoven wool persian rug that we got for free off of Craigslist. The original purchase price of this rug was around $16,000 25 years ago. The rug has a small damaged corner and is absolutely filthy, but is also very beautiful and sturdy and will hold up in our high traffic (4 kids, 3 dogs, 1 cat) bedroom space. This rug was a real find. In a clean condition, it will work perfect for our new basement master bedroom/office suite that we are creating today and tomorrow. But, I have to say all this work is wearing me out!
So, how am I learning to live without? If I was still working, I would have bought an appropriate sized rug and had it installed, with no work for me. I would have been able to hire someone to help with our house transition instead of Dave and I having to do all the work. I also noticed the ceiling in our basement, recycled paneling we got off of Craigslist. It isn't pristine and gorgeous, but it does the job.
Today I am faced with the hard lesson of living simply and doing the best I can with what we have. I am learning lessons about my sinfulness as I covet what others have and selfishly desire for our new room to be immaculate and perfect. But I thank God for the grace he gives me and the lesson I am learning about being simple and doing the best with what He has given us. And, I will be excited tomorrow when all this hard work is behind me and I am relaxing in my new living room and bedroom with my hubby and kiddos!
