Today we’re doing something different. Some of our contributors are sharing one of their TOP POSTS from their own blogs. These are the posts that, over the years, have had the most traffic on their sites. Cool. So here goes:

My purpose in this world, contrary to the belief of some, is not to have children! I’m very uncomfortable with the “quiverfull” label. It has a wrong emphasis on family size and, I believe, comes dangerously close to preaching an unbiblical, works-based model of salvation. If I had no kids, Jesus would still be my Lord and my God. If I have a dozen more (oh, my), Jesus will still be my purpose. My family size is an outworking of this faith, it is true. If I didn’t get my worldview from a Bible that considers children to be an asset, I would most likely conform to the beliefs of the World and have a smaller number of children. But a large family has never been my goal. Christ is my goal.

Monday morning – I can truly say I love Monday mornings.  Flylady’s Weekly Home Blessing has helped me to enjoy and actually look forward to Monday’s.  After the morning routine is taken care I move right into the Weekly Home Blessing Hour.  When my children were younger and we were home together this is something we would do together and integrate into the school day after morning chores were finished.  Below is an excerpt taken from Flylady’s website describing the Weekly Home Blessing Hour.  I’ve listed mine below hers with a couple of explanations.

Excerpt taken from A Weekly Home Blessing by Marci Ferrell of A Thankful Homemaker. Includes some great links you’ll want to bookmark.

The world tells me that to be happy I need to drive a nice car, wear beautiful clothes and have plenty of me-time. I need to strive for the body of a 21-year-old and live the American Dream.

Excerpt taken from It’s All a Lie by Bambi Moore of In the Nursery of the Nation. But that’s not her MOST popular post. Her MOST popular is the one that prompted her new eBook, More Than Rules. It’s Modest Dress: What it is and 7 Reasons We Don’t Want to Talk About It.

“It’s nice to meet you, what do you do?” She asks.

“I am a stay-at-home-mom” I reply, wondering if I should throw in information about my college degree and prior work experience, just to portray myself with a little more value in the eyes of my acquaintance.  I don’t have the chance to go on, however, as she responds quickly.

“Oh, wow, you are so lucky to get to stay at home,” she replies, “We could just never afford it.”

“Money only stretches so far,” I politely relate, though slightly cringing at her assumptions, “We are certainly blessed with the ability to make this work for us.”

Does she assume we’re wealthy, I wonder.  Surely she understands we’re not, right?  Surely she understands it is a trade-off?  Does she really think it’s “luck” that made this decision for us?

She’s right, though, in a way.  I can afford to be a stay-at-home-mom and I am wealthy enough to afford a great deal of valuable things.  Things that are so precious, in fact, that the things we can’t afford pale in comparison. For example:

Excerpt taken from The Wealthy Stay-At-Home Mom, by Tyanne of Lamp on a Stand. (You definitely want to read her incredible list of affordable luxuries!)

If I’m not careful, I can let my children irritate, frustrate and aggravate me into being a really awful mother. But if I look closely, the things that bother me most often are just part of parenting, part of taking time to help little people learn to grow up–the very thing God gave me time for.

Excerpt taken from Motherhood: It’s What God Gave You Time For by Kelly Crawford of Generation Cedar.

When my oldest son was 2 years old, I swore he would never touch a weapon. I bought “gender inclusive toys” and encouraged him to play with cars AND dolls. It was all very politically correct.

Excerpt taken from Boys and Weapons by Molly Evert of Counter Cultural Mom

These ladies are amazing. I LOVED reading their answers to the Just Ask the Wemmicks question yesterday. If you didn’t get a chance to hop around to read their responses, you’ll want to do that! They all touch on various nuances of the issue of half naked women at the beach, and the advice is excellent.