S.tay A.t H.ome M.om at Work

With all of my children having vacated my home for 8 hours of the day, a new chapter has opened up to me.  While at first I was apprehensive, I have seen something truly new and challenging happening.  Making real and close friendships while having to give so much time and attention to my children, used to be so tough, the work involved, well, it was too much and the result:  as it tends to happen to many Moms, is the lack of true friendships. 
Sure we have friends, but when examining closely, I found those friends were more like acquaintances, or superficial relationships without the real meat of understanding each other, giving support, encouragement and motivation.
So in the past month, a friendship of mine, which used to be more work related has evolved into a closeness that I haven’t had, probably since college.  And just today, I realized that she was there for me, in the few first days that school started and my home was so empty.  She called me, we sat at Starbucks, cried to…

So many times, I am reminded that a big piece of this life is about trust.

But our human nature, our fallen, human nature tends to question, doubt and take charge...with ourselves, with others, and with God.  Interestingly, my last post was, in a nut shell, waiting to hear God's plan with these many hours of the day.  I didn't want to rush into something or commit to anything until I knew, how it would impact the family.  This is a hyper sensitive issue when considering the 3-7pm hours are filled to the max with 5 kids homework, projects, demands, needs, husband's work download, negotiating disputes, sporting events, as well as guiding the teenage awkward years.

The hours in the day while kids are in school is complete silence.  In the beginning, the lack of sound in this house was deafening.  It was clear something wasn't right.  It took a good two weeks to adjust to silence.  And now, I actually enjoy it.  But these hours of silence are a drastic 180 degree shift in…