Being A Woman

     Biblical Womanhood.  Domesticity.  Femininity.  God has given me a passion for these three words for many years.  Hence, the passion for this blog.  I haven't always used these words when referring to my passion, but the ideas these words invoke have been in my thoughts and conversations for a while now.
     From a very young age I had the desire to be a mom.  I remember in high school writing a paper about my future and stating that I wanted to have a well established career before starting a family.  My thinking was a product of my culture.  When it came time to choose a college major I had a hard time deciding (as most kids this age do) on a career choice, because #1: My long-term goal was to be a mom, and #2: God had already allowed me to meet the man I wanted to marry.  Since this man was called to be a pastor, which meant college then seminary, I decided (the practical girl that I am) to choose a career that would be easy to get a job out of state when we married and moved away for seminary, and one that would pay well enough to support us while my husband finished school.  We realize now that this was not the Biblical way to do things since the husband should be the provider, but we were young and had (and still do have) a lot to learn.  Growing up in a home with a dentist as my father, I was well-aquainted with the dental field and it seemed interesting enough, so I applied to the only dental hygiene school in my home state of AL and was accepted the second year I applied (but the details of that will have to be included in another post).
     After graduating from college one weekend in May 2005, I attended my husband's graduation from college one week later, and we were married the very next Saturday.   That August, we moved to Louisville, KY for my husband to begin seminary at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and for me to begin my hunt for a job as a dental hygienist.  I had worked as a hygienist at my father's office the summer after I graduated and had already done some phone interviews for a position in Louisville.  I worked as a hygienist for 3 1/2 years until I had my first child in August, 2008 - a girl!  Our second child, a son, was born March, 2010, and we eagerly await having more children.
     After having our firstborn, I went back to work part-time when she was 5-8 months old.  Those were three tough months, and I cried every day on the way to work.  I really enjoyed my job as a hygienist, but God had given me a precious baby girl and my calling was no longer to clean teeth, but to be a momma.  I have had the privilege of staying home to raise my children ever since.  As my father-in-law describes so well, for the life of a stay-at-home-mom "the days are long, but the years are short."  Being a wife and mother are not easy jobs.  They require a lot of work, sacrifice, and joy mixed with exhaustion!  I believe my desire to be a "keeper at home" is God-given.  Scripture makes it clear that a woman should have a certain bent toward home even before she has a husband or children.  Now that I am married with children, I need to constantly be reminded of God's will for me as a woman.  As a sinner,  I want to rule over my husband, neglect my children's needs, and focus on my self.  As a Christian, I am called to submit to my husband, love my children, and die to self daily.
     I've been doing a lot of reading on this subject of Biblical womanhood, and as I live life I need to be encouraged to "love my husband and children, be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to my own husband, that the word of God may not be dishonored" (Titus 2:4-5).  And to "look well to the ways of my household" (Proverbs 31:27).  After all, "a wise woman build her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down" (Proverbs 14:1).  So, I decided to start this blog a couple of years ago with the hope that I would be an encouragement to other women who are striving to be Biblical Women.  I want to share what I am learning along the way.