So, I'm having one of those days when by 10AM I've wiped poop off every bottom in this house except my husband's.

It's not that it's a bad day. So far no tantrums. Everyone ate their breakfast. I got the dishwasher unloaded and loaded again. I have a few quiet minutes to sit at my computer. I actually know what I'm cooking for dinner tonight.

It's just that on some days, I get tired of the poop waiting for me on other people's backsides.

I gazed out my kitchen window this morning, ignoring the mess I knew the boys were making in the living room with their Legos and thought of all the women out there who got up super early this morning, did their hair and make up and actually put on an outfit with no denim component to it. I thought about how they'd turn in their projects or tell other people how to do their projects. I thought about how their feet would start to hurt by mid-afternoon from those killer heels, but dang, they'd look good wearing them!

You know what I have on my feet right now? Fuzzy, white slippers from Walmart and their sides are starting to come apart because they were made so cheaply.

And I was starting to wonder what it would be like to put my kids on the magic yellow bus or drop them off at daycare or preschool before driving off to spend 8+ hours in an adult world... thinking that might be the way to go...

Because, seriously, no one at any of my previous jobs hollered at me from the bathroom to wipe their bottom... I have a college degree, for crying out loud and it's not in Poopology!

Then my almost two-year-old toddled up to me with his adorable cowboy boots in hand, saying, "Boys? Peeeesssss?" asking me to put them on him. And I thought, if I wasn't home, where God has called me to be, and I didn't see my children for most of the day, would I even know little Eli calls his cowboy boots "boys"? Or would he be asking some other caregiver to put his boots on for him.

No, I'm not going to get a paycheck with my name on it this Friday. But if what God has called me to is wiping poop off little bottoms, then I'll try to do it with a smile on my face. I'll do it to the best of my God-given ability. I'll do it with all my heart because I know I'm investing in little bottoms that I believe will make a difference in this world for His glory!

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ~ II Corinthians 9:8

So, do you think in heaven there is a reward for the best bottom-wiper?

I've been thinking about abortion a lot. More than usual.

It seems it's been a hot topic ever since we Americans voted in the most pro-abortion president in our history. And it's been a topic again as the House and Senate debate health-care reform and whether or not it will or will not cover abortions costs.

And then Friday, January 22, 2010 marked the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and I was struck with the following thought:

I think American Christians are more pro-choice than we think.

For example...

*I CHOSE when I would start having children based on when we could afford them and when it fit in with my career.

*I CHOSE how far apart my children would be because I know better than God what I can and cannot handle and heaven forbid if I have two kids in diapers at the same time.

* I CHOSE that I wasn't going to have children because I thought a career in the professional world would be better for me and I didn't want to lose my size four figure.

* I CHOSE when I would stop God from allowing life, created in His imagine, to come from me and a simple snip-snip took care of that.

That's a lot of choices we make all on our own, without consulting the almighty Creator of Life.

So, maybe in all of our political activism we're not really pro-life.

We're just anti-abortion.

Welcome to my new blog.

I have always loved writing. When I am trying to figure out an issue -- what I think about it, how I want to respond, how I really feel -- I process it by pretending I'm writing it down. I have a million essays swirling around my head.

The problem...

I don't actually like to write with a pen. Or paper. Hence, no actually putting this stuff down on paper. I've started a journal several times, but again, that whole pen and paper thing. I assume it's a result of being born post 1975 and going to college with a laptop in tow.

So, I'm going to use this blog for my journaling. I assume that one or two friends, plus my mother will read it. This is solely for getting ideas, stories, ramblings and musings out of my head and onto something tangible (is the Internet tangible?). If you don't want to hear my opinions on topics you never asked about, I won't be offended. Feel free to catch up with our family (namely the kiddos) at The Semi-Homemade Homestead.

I've been inspired by many blogs, mostly by other women who share my calling to be present in the home, raising and discipling my children. This is something I am so far from perfect in! I'm not attempting to copy their lives. I realize that I, along with everyone else I know, is on a different journey. So my journey, my stories will look different.

Sit back. Enjoy. My hope is you will be challenged, inspired and encouraged. And find that there is a woman out there struggling with issues just like you...