Obedience and Surrender

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Family Matters

A Working Mom’s Journal

By Audrey Carli

A Working Mom’s Journal Before my first baby was born, my employer asked me to return to work after the baby arrived.

“We’ll get a substitute and allow you to take off six weeks for maternity leave.”

At that time, I wasn’t sure if I would return to work. I was raised in a family where Mom stayed at home and cooked, cleaned and taught us all day long. I hoped to be able to do the same for my family.

Our financial situation wouldn’t allow me to quit work, and I didn’t know how to deal with my guilt. But then I remembered Mom had worked part-time from home, sewing clothes for customers early in the morning or late at night when the children were asleep. My husband’s mother had baked cakes for birthdays, graduations and weddings to support her family as she stayed at home with her children. I realized I didn’t have to be either a “stay-at-home” mom or a “working” mom. I could be both! I could just be a mom.

When Christy arrived, I celebrated my new status as a mom by keeping a journal. Over the next months as I returned to work, leaving my baby with our neighbor who was practically Christy’s grandmother, I continued to write in the journal and it helped me feel more connected with Christy. I could look back and see how she was growing and developing and it reassured me I was doing the right thing.

Each evening my husband and I would play with Christy before we tucked her in bed and sat on the sofa for a long conversation. Life was richer than it had ever been before. My growing family and my career didn’t compete with each other, but both were important parts of my God-given calling to be a woman and a mother.