Feeling Domestic

You wouldn't probably know it to look at my house right now, it's a bit over-run still at the moment. But the gentle hum of the dryer and folded clothes in the laundry basket are a welcome sight and a promise of a calm in the chaos. :) Dinner is made and waiting to be slid into the oven at the appropriate time and even dessert is a lovely surprise browning while I type. It's amazing to me how these simple pleasures of domestic nature warm my heart when I have slowed down to attend to them. There's such a deep feeling of satisfaction in serving your family.

It's incredible to think about how much my life has changed in the past 2 or 3 years - going from absolutely full-time mom to Jack-of-all-trades. Enough to make my head spin. I love my life now, and I loved it before, isn't that interesting? A peace that only comes from right relationship with the Maker, I suppose.

I'm not saying there aren't days when I'm frazzled and feeling torn between two (or three or four) worlds and wondering what I need to lay down to be able to focus on my priorities... But overall, I love my life so much, I love the choices that I get to make each day. There is so much freedom in each of my 'jobs' - an incredible amount of responsibility too, but I love the challenge of making it all work. So much so that I'm not ready to put down any one of them, instead I constantly re-balance, weighing the immediate needs of each area against the others.

I guess it's a crazy way to live, but it's the only way I know how to survive right now. No, I should edit that, it's the only way I know how to thrive right now. Being a mom is so important to me, and stretching our paycheck as far as it can go and being frugal is part of that responsibility; feeding my family and keeping up our home, those are privileges of motherhood and wifery. :) (yep, I just made that word up).

Being Rob's right hand as youth and music pastor is also important, his ministry is extended greatly by having an extra set of hands at his disposal. We do so much together that he couldn't do on his own. In addition to that, being pastor's wife is every bit as much my calling as being pastor is his! If I were to back off or slow down, it would be so detrimental and I would be stepping out of God's will for my life. He called me to be a pastor's wife when I was sixteen and I've never questioned the validity of that call for moment. And yes, I knew that in my heart BEFORE I met Rob. He's just one of the perks of the job. :)

Starting at the church as a part-time secretary a year ago seemed like an extra item when we made that decision, but it's wound up being such a good one. I love having an office to work out of two days a week and a lot of the things I do as secretary I'd be finding time to do on my own anyway. It's so great to have a place to land on that side of town when I need to, and not to be underfoot in Rob's office but still available to him at the push of a button. Plus it's brought such a connection with our secretarial staff and I feel like I really know what's going on in the church.

And that brings me to photography, which I love so much. I feel so stretched by this business, and it's that good yoga kind of stretching, where it hurts a little bit but it feels so good and you know that you are growing and getting stronger! Photography is the thing that's mine, that has nothing to do with being pastor's wife and everything to do with being Anna. It's the art that's been squelched up inside me since I was a little girl and its' so cool to see it spill into prints and images. Can I say that I feel like it's my future? Being a stay at home mom it's so easy to wrap your life up in your children, which is such a good and worthy thing to wrap up in. Reality says that one day they will kiss me goodbye and head off into their own lives, hopefully staying in close relationship with us still, but living their own lives just the same. I needed something that would still be there when that happened. Photography has been such an amazing outlet for me this past year. And such a witnessing opportunity. The truth is, living a life like mine, I don't get a lot of opportunity to talk with anyone who isn't saved. :) I've met so many fantastic people this past year with the vehicle of photography, and it's been so cool to just be me and let the Lord use it.

So I'm domestic today. And it's good. And I'm glad this isn't every day. I love the life that God is allowing me to live right now. And I'm incredibly excited about all that He is doing in my heart, all the growing we've been experiencing. It reminds me again of His great love for me (and you too!), that He's never content to let us just stay the same. We are to be growing in Him, and in our own abilities, and always, always growing into His will for our lives, which is continually bigger than we are. Wow. What a mighty God we serve!!!