I arrived here just recently, late January maybe, but this site has had a profound impact on me. Although I'd always known I wanted to stay home when I had kids and I was clear with my husband about that before we even married. (And he won my heart by saying that he could stay home with the kids and work part time telecommuting so that I could continue to work if I wanted to.) :::blinking back tears::: Who wouldn't love a man that said that?! I had lots of support from my mother and in laws to stay at home, and it seemed like everytime I told someone I was an at home mom they congradulated me and told me how great that was.

In spite of all that, it's been hard for me to grapple with the change. The first year I was just trying to keep my head above water, learning how to be a mom. But after my darling daughter started becoming less high maintainance, I was left looking around my home, thinking, what am I supposed to do, now? And I didn't really value myself fully because I wasn't contributing finacially to the household.

Since coming here and reading the articles, forums, stories, et cetera, I've had a couple of epiphanies about my contributions and potential not as they relate to making money, but how they relate to making a home. It's taken me three years, but I'm stepping into a new paradigm of owning my talents and abilities as a homemaker and mother. And it was The New Homemaker that showed me the way.

Bless each and every one of you. Thank you.
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May The Hair On Your Toes Never Fall Out

--Traditional Hobbit Blessing