Raising Homemakers

It doesn't escape me that I've been given the tremendous task of raising up a generation of Little Women. Soon five girls will call me Mama. But trust me, I'm just like the rest of you. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing great, other times I think I'm failing. We have beautiful days where everyone is getting along and we have horrible days where the girls are bickering and arguing and throwing fits.

This week I have had a terrible head cold. You know, the works. Sneezing. Coughing. Headaches. For sure, not the worst head cold I've ever had, but enough to make the dog bark when I talk and sound like a man. You know what I mean.

Regardless of whether I am out of sorts, the show must go on. And surprisingly, it has been a beautiful week for me. Despite the ever growing mound of tissues, my little women have risen to the occasion.

As we home school there is still work to be done whether teacher is sick or not. I did a very limited amount of teaching. Just enough to squeak by. Anne and Abbey have read more material on their own than ever before. Anne has helped Abbey work through a math challenge as well as help Maggie read through her sight words. Abbey has taken charge of Caroline and helped her to the bathroom and read her books. Maggie has also stepped up and taken a crying Caroline upstairs to play and distract her while my head was pounding. Anne made lunch on my worst day this week.

As truly grateful as I am to be feeling better in some ways I'm glad I had this little brush of illness. It gave me the opportunity to see my daughters rise up. They were able to complete tasks that I don't normally assign but that they have learned through watching their mama. I never sat down and showed them how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but all three of the older girls are capable (with varying degrees of messes) to make a sandwich.

Friends with little toddlers. Take heart. Your day will come. It's hard to comprehend that my eldest daughter will be nine years old next month. It's humbling that the Lord saw fit to give me all these future homemakers to raise. But that's what I'm doing, to the best of my ability.

And maybe in another month I'll feign illness just to see how much they have honed their homemaking skills.