family.

I just recently started the 'Loved by God' Bible study for me and the ladies in our church. Liz Curtis Higgs is hilarious and brings a tangible emotional connection to the scriptures being studied.

It's been a difficult year for me being a Pastor's wife with 7 small, silly children. Add to that, a little {a lot of} homeschooling and it's not always the strawberries and ice cream one might picture it to be. My husband and pastor {not my husband} remind me that my home and children are my first ministry, and that if I wasn't holding down the home fort, my husband couldn't be doing all that he does for us, the church and all the people in it. And they're right.

Some day, there will be a time when my children will not need naps, feedings, changing, dressing, hawk-like supervision, training, teaching........

There will be a time when I have lots of free slots to fill. But at this time, God has given me these children to bless me, use me and leave a legacy with. I will not sacrifice them for ministry.

Some people have a hard time understanding this or even being aware of the time required to raise many small little people.

Free time does not exist.

It is a kind of sacrifice most definitely. A sacrifice I have welcomed with each birth.

I used to complain constantly during some of the earlier years of my marriage and ministry {to my family and church} how I needed to have a little 'me' time. I wanted my husband to plan getaways for just the two of us. Not just dinner dates, but escapes to far away places. But one day, God just put it on my heart and corrected my perspective.

I am a Mommy right now of a family of small babies. God gave me this family.

I wanted what God wants for my life.

Any getaways we take, we'll take as a family-- all of us. When we go to Disneyland, everyone goes-- even the littlest ones. No one gets left behind. We will do things as a family otherwise we will not be doing them.

Vacations as a family.

When my children are older, then my husband and I can travel alone. We still go on married's overnighters once a year, but the current season in my life is: family with lots of silly littles ones.