Marisa's Laughter Page

Read along in this column to see what kind of stuff I find to go along with my wild story this week. Some of it will be funny, some a bit more serious. You never know!

This one is not really as FUNNY as some of my past efforts. If this offends you, well, I'm sorry!!!!! Life is funny, that's what I'm trying to get across.

If the lack of humor on this site REALLY offends you try this one:

www.marklowry.com

or buy some of his work:

Gosh, it's hard to call that work. It sounds like too much fun.

Wanna see my new car?

Click here

Here's where I bought that wonderful new car. Tell Perry and Joe I sent ya!

www.wyattjohnson.com

I bought this new car when I realized I wouldn't be able to talk the hubby into letting me work on websites full-time from home. Not yet, anyway. Therefore, I needed a new car!

Wanna start your OWN Internet movie info site? Any other kind of site? Here's my host:

Get Veggie Tales videos from Tower Records!

www.weightwatchers.com

www.mcdonalds.com

Everyone knows my favorite NASCAR driver is Sterling Marlin (thus the SILVER car) but I have 2 favorite Pontiac Grand Prix drivers:

Now, I could look at that all day.

This is cool too.

I don't look real good in caps.

My Grand Prix doesn't have a hitch.

Mama worked at McClard's IGA. It's now Holt's Cee Bee. Read about IGA food stores. The Cee Bee website is down at the moment, but I think the link is www.cbrfoods.com.

Here's a book I simply MUST read. I haven't yet, but it sounds interesting.

Also a Mother

This is an inspirational guide for working mothers:

Balancing Acts

Here's a link to my BLOG!

It's called The Christian Working Mom's Blog!

Enjoy!

November 3, 2002

Are all moms working moms?

Today I went to see the new Veggie Tales movie. My kids and I were in a group of twelve - four adult women and eight children. The only boy was my seven-year-old, but he didn't seem to mind.

I was really anxious before we got there. The kids wanted to eat junk food in the car. The rain made me nervous. The slow-moving traffic on the interstate made me nervous. The kids fighting and putting their feet on the dash and the back of my seat...well, you get the picture. It wasn't my most pleasant trip in the car.

When we got to our destination, the other folks met me and said, "Hey, the Internet listing for the theatre was wrong. The movie doesn't start until 4:00." My heart sank.

My original plans for this day were to go to church in the morning, then come home and cook in bulk (I want to try this once-a-month cooking thing) while I washed a lot of clothes and watched the NASCAR race, then maybe go to the Y for yoga, then back to church for chimes and choir practice in the afternoon. I thought I'd be putting a total of 24 miles on the new car.

My plans changed last night, when I called home after my second trip to work and my daughter said, "Mom, Mrs. Sharon called, and said they're going to the Veggie Tales movie tomorrow at 2:30, and we're meeting at the church at 1:00."

I thought 1:00 was a little early, but I didn't argue, I just went. Of course, when we got there, no one else was there, and I thought, Well, great. Now I've wasted a trip into town (that's six miles from the house). So I went to the bank, and my next stop was to be the gas station. But, we saw people heading toward church so I drove back over there.

And here we had two hours to kill before the movie. So much for my plans to go to chimes practice, and now I couldn't even do yoga at 3:05. One mom said, "Well, we could go over to McDonald's." There went my heart again - I've been doing Weight Watchers with the hubby. But of course, we went.

We all sat around chatting about housework and husbands and complaints. One of the ladies asked if my hubby complained about the house being dirty. I said, "He dares not! He knows what I'd tell him!" They all laughed at my lines like "If a clean house means that much to you, I can quit work!" and "The house might BE clean if I could stay home!"

Out of all us grownups I was the only "working mother." One of the women doesn't have children at home. She spends a lot of time volunteering at a local benevolence agency. Her daughter was with us, an at-home mom of two. The other mom is an aerobics instructor, with three small children. I think her classes are in the evenings, but I'm not sure about that. But as for full-time employment, I was the only one whose days belong to some organization other than home.

I probably wouldn't have been the least bit bothered by all that, if the next ten minutes hadn't been spent listening to the older mom talk about some woman who speaks at gatherings of women, telling them women ought to stay home until their youngest child graduated from high school, and how it would be great to hear this woman speak live and in person. The other moms were all for that, talking about how much that would help women.

I don't think it would be much help to me. If I did hear it, I'd probably just feel guilty. I think it would be more helpful if this woman spoke to a group of people that included my husband...and I can just see that. He'd tune her out in about three minutes, so it wouldn't really be worth sending him. He'd either start snoring or mocking the speaker. I'd probably be the laughing stock of our little town!

Hey, things HAVE been worse in our lives. I'm just thankful he goes to church! There was a time when he didn't do that much. Back then I REALLY wondered what God was doing with me.

We all have the same challenges, no matter where our work is done. We all want our kids to learn good moral values and to be healthy and safe. Some moms think no one else should be involved in the raising of their children; others probably feel that their parenting skills are inferior to those of the other caregivers in their children's lives.

My mom worked during part of my childhood, and to be really honest, I liked that part of my life just as much as the other parts. I liked the ladies who babysat us, and then when the time came, I liked staying home by myself. I certainly never felt like my parents loved me any less because Mama worked. I enjoyed visiting my mom at work and telling people she worked at the store.

I don't remember her working when I was a small child, but I know she did some of the time. My grandmother kept me, I think, and that was a great blessing too, because I always enjoyed her company a lot. I feel like my life was a little richer because my mom worked, and I don't mean financially. I really knew nothing about the money, whether it was better or worse.

My mother-in-law worked during much of my husband's childhood. This has, at times, been a sore spot for us. He would say, "Well, my mom worked and I turned out all right." I'd act like I agreed, but deep down, I'd be thinking, "OK, so you're not an axe-murderer or a car thief, but you DID party REAL hearty, even after our kids were born! I'm not sure I want my kids doing that!"

Over the years I have questioned God about this. I've asked Him why it was such a sore subject for me. I wondered why He would give me the desire to do this, and make the arguments so strong, and yet it be something so hard for my husband to allow me to do.

One night I realized that God uses me where I am. He's used me in every place I've been, whether it was working full-time or working part-time or just filling in here and there. I've been there for a lot of people. He meant for me to use my skills for Him.

He's provided us with good, Christian caregivers over the years. He's given us supervisors who understood when we had sick children, and we've enjoyed great health benefits in my jobs as well as the hubby's. We've been blessed the last year or so with the assistance of my grandmother, who sometimes comes out to stay with the kids after school. Our kids have done very well, so far.

For a long time I've been looking online for websites that help Christian working mothers. I haven't found many. Most of the Christian websites I've found were extolling the joys of homeschooling and homemaking - and there's nothing wrong with that. Oh, I would LOVE to do that. It's just not where I was planted.

I thought the lack of Christian working moms' sites was due to the lack of Christian working mothers. I was afraid I'd been misled into thinking those of us who worked outside the home weren't really Christians. (and I know that's not true either, I know too many Christian moms who DO work!) Today, though, I finally realized why there aren't many sites to help Christian working moms -

We're too busy to write sites for other Christian working mothers!

We spend our "free" time going to Tae Kwon Do classes and soccer games and music lessons and shuttling kids to and from 4-H meetings and sleepovers and birthday parties. When we've got a few "extra" hours we're picking up prescriptions and birthday gifts (for those parties!) and baking goodies for school functions. We're washing clothes all weekend and cooking dinner the minute we get in the door. We're BUSY, by golly!

But we Christian working mothers probably need laughter and camaraderie as much, if not more, than anyone. We don't need to look down our noses on the at-home moms, and we don't need to get down on ourselves either. If I had a dime for every time I'd felt guilty about working, I wouldn't need to work anymore. If I had all the time back that I worried about not spending enough time with my children, or all the hours I spent looking for ways I could stay home and still earn an equal amount of money, I'd have enough time to stay home with my kids until they're adults. The important thing is to make the most of what you've got. And that's why...

I have created a new blog for this very purpose!

What's a blog? Well, if you don't know...go to www.blogger.com to find out. It's like a diary or just an easy way to manage a site where frequent updates are required - like the one I'm creating! It's a NEW venture for me but hopefully, it will be well worth it in the end. Who knows, maybe I'll finally make enough money to stay home! But I doubt it. Besides, after all these years I've come to LIKE being a nuclear medicine technologist. It's one way God uses me to bless other people!

Where do you want to go?

Rissy's Treasures

The Frank Sutton Web Page

Risa's Hee Haw Tribute Page

Marisa's Home Page

Please visit the Laughter Archive!