What about college?

“do you regret not being able to go to college? what is the explanation for you and your sister not being “college bound” when you were younger? are your brothers “college bound”?”
Melanie

Do I regret not going to college?  About as much as I regret making and eating apple crisp last night, in other words, no.   I never have had the desire to attend college and so far there has never been anything I wanted to learn that I could not study outside of college walls.  Honestly, I feel college is over rated for girls like me (homeschooled, living at home, plans on being a wife and mother).  There is a fear that we will end up being single forever (a possibility) and having no means of supporting ourselves.  True, this could be a problem if our parents have not trained us to educate ourselves.   I hope, should I ever find myself in a position where I would need to support myself, that I will have the necessary skills to do so.  If I don’t, I know how to go about getting them, and I know how to flip burgers, scrub toilets and change rolls of hand towels to pay for it.

As far as why my sister and I were not college bound when we were younger.  To start off, our career choices were not something we could study for at college.  Yes, we could have taken a family and consumer science course, maybe a nutritionist course.  For the most part these classes are aimed at teachers and doctors.  The best way to study for your career I feel is hands on learning.

In case some of you don’t know, my career of choice (and my sister’s, which she is currently working in) is to be a stay at home mom.  I’m daily gaining knowledge on this from one of the best teachers, through her examples, instructions and encouragement I am daily being challenged to expand my knowledge base.  Yep, my mom is tops   Recently she found a web site where you could sign up to take classes on different subjects from talented individuals from around our area.  I’ll be watching this as classes change to see if anything interests me.

Part of why my sister and I were not college bound is because my parents feel the place of an unwed daughter is in the home.  Yes, there is the option of attending a local college or taking correspondence courses.  This also has never interested me for the above stated reasons.

My brothers may attend college.  Currently my eldest brother, Aaron, is looking at joining a branch of the military when he graduates from high school.  Afterwards he hopes to take a few classes to educate himself to become a deputy sheriff,  like my dad.  My youngest brother, Will, currently has no career goals, after all, he’s only eleven, so I cannot say whether or not he’ll be attending college.

Refueling.

“Ok, I didn’t have a question at first, but now I do! I know that you often spend time out of the home, doing things for others. I’ve read your blog long enough ( and your mom’s too) to know that you have a real servant’s heart. To be honest, there have been so many days that I’ve thought, “Wow, I really wish Dani lived close enough to drop by today” I’m sure that you try to do things ahead of time when you know you’re going to be out. So I’m not necessarily talking about your household duties, but my question is the following: How do you know when it’s time to pull back from the outside service? How do you gauge when you’ve just “had enough”, and know it’s time to get back home, to refresh and replenish yourself – emotionally, physically, spiritually? I think this is one of the hardest thing for young, energetic women to learn, but I’m thinking you might have some good ideas to share on the subject.”

Alesha

Alesha, there are definitely periods of time where I find myself away from home quite a bit.  Whether it is for a full week at a time, a few days or even a few hours.  I do enjoy being able to help my family as well as my church family and other friends.  At the same time I LOVE being home.  There have been times when I honestly feel like I can not make it one more day away from home.  As comfortable as I may be at someone else’s home, it’s not my home and I do not get the same sense of rest there as I do here.

So far I have not been given more than I can chew.  I will admit there have been times I have told my mom that I wasn’t sure I could go do _________ or be away from home again.  I just didn’t feel like I had it in me.  My mom always tells me to think on it, sometimes to even sleep on it and always to pray about it.   She also asks if there are any known reasons why I can’t (have other plans, sick, gone a lot lately, physically impossible).  Every time I have come back and said I wanted to do it, and I have never had a time where I have regretted it.

It was close when my sister gave birth and I lost my great grandmother in one week while traveling with friends in 2007 ( both possibilities that had made me hesitate about going).  Lots of phone calls, emails and instant messages with my parents and sister were flying back and forth.  Eric and Lisa, whom I was traveling with, offered to fly me home after my great grandmother passed away, as did my dad.  My parents encouraged me to stay though, as there was nothing I could do since my G. grandmother was gone.  Eric and Lisa were so fantastic during this time, dealing with a babysitter who was an emotional mess for the second time on the trip.

I believe God gives to me the strength I  need, as well as the rest times I need.  So far, when I feel like I am reaching a point where I just can’t anymore, there has been a long period where no one seems to need me.  I’m then able to hide away here and refuel.

My dad also has told me that anytime I don’t feel like, or just plain don’t want to help someone, or babysit, or house sit, help move or not available do to other commitments or whatever, to just let him know and he’ll take care of it for me.  To me, it’s nice to know I always have that option

As I said above I LOVE being home, this alone keeps me from overdoing it.  I enjoy being home, having a familiar routine and being surrounded by familiar people whom I love.

I wish I did live closer, I would love to pop in with a mocha for you, Alesha!

Regrets

“Do you have ANY regrets for putting yourself through some of these questions?”

Katie

I love ya, Katie!  After using your first question as the very first question I answered I was planning on saving this one for the very end.  I felt like they were perfect end caps to this whole series.  After watching the list of questions grow however, I decided to bump this one up.

Nope, I don’t regret it… yet   I was surprised at how many people responded and how many questions there have been so far.  I’ve really enjoyed reading through and answering them.  Some have really challenged me to work on putting in to words things I think.  Others have cracked me up!

So, no, so far I haven’t regretted it

If any of these posts bring up more questions feel free to leave them in the comments or in the original blog post.

Cookies

“When you are watching someone’s children…and you decide to make them something…would you say they prefer your brownies or your chocolate chip cookies better?”

Dr. Fletcher

I really couldn’t say since I have never made brownies at anyone’s home but my own.  Whenever I am at a family’s home watching their kiddos I have found they never have baking chocolate on hand (I use unsweetened baking chocolate in my brownies).  Generally there are chocolate chips in the pantry so I stick with chocolate chip cookies.  It also helps that I have the recipe memorized

Personally, I prefer brownies.

If any of these posts bring up more questions feel free to leave them in the comments or in the original blog post.

Singing Psalms

“Do you like singing the Psalms? If so, do you have a favorite? (Mine is Psalm 42-43)”

Mr. Wait

I do enjoy singing Psalms during church, Psalm 5 being my favorite. However, I am glad we attend a church where they sing from such a wide variety of music (hymns, Psalms, praise songs, popular worship songs).  I do enjoy variety

If any of these posts bring up more questions feel free to leave them in the comments or in the original blog post.