Hippy Mom

As I sat down to write this article I asked Gracie if she would like to help me. She looked at me and said with a big smile, “Sure, Mama.” I started by telling her what I planned. “I want to write about how you help Mama.” Gracie is standing by to help me write this article. She helps me when I sew, cook, and fold clothes, so she knows that she can help me come up with interesting stories for you.

Every day, from the first thing in the morning until they go to bed at night, both of my girls are with me. We are a team that is working together getting our work done, so we can play together or learn together.

Just yesterday as I was washing the dishes at NGJ, I had Laila, my 11 month old, sitting in the sink next to me helping me wash, as Gracie stood on the chair beside me. One of the office workers stopped upon seeing us and laughed, “That is a good way of doing it.” Once, not too many years past, I sat in the sink helping my mom with the dishes. Now it is my turn to bless my daughters with both the joy and the responsibility of washing dishes together.

From the time Gracie was born she has been working and enjoying life with me. At times I have been in a hurry to get the house clean before Daddy comes home, yet I make myself slow down to include Gracie in my activities. She is always there wanting to be a part of everything I do. Now at the age of three she is more help than most ten-year-olds. We are friends in every sense of the word.

Last week my husband and I had some friends over for dinner. As I was working in the kitchen, cooking and setting the table, my baby, Laila, was riding on my hip. The lady visiting asked me why I carried my baby around like that while I cooked. At eleven months Laila is learning the art of cooking. I let her sniff the herbs and taste test the food. I am training a chef. How else is Laila going to see what I am doing if I don’t carry her? If she does not see, taste and experience cooking, how will she ever learn?

My daughters will be wonderful wives and mothers. They will be fully-equipped in all good matters of the home. They will be cheerful, thankful, delighted in their husbands, obedient, hard-working, creative, and did I say thankful? I am not a name it and claim it believer. It takes far more than naming and claiming to have children that are hard-working, cheerful and honor God by walking in truth. Nor do I leave it up to “hope”, “chance” or “curriculum.” I train my daughters now to be a part of what mama is and what mama is doing. I pray that my steps will be straight, my heart pure and my soul full of joy unspeakable and full of glory, because what I am will be passed on to my daughters.