Women

i would consider myself a reader. My mom and sisters are, like, Super-Readers, so maybe I'm not that into reading but I like a good book now and then.
Especially books that teach me and put a little bit more knowledge into my pea sized brain.
When my mom came down to visit a while ago, she lent me this book called, "Women of Virtue" by Jodi Marie Robinson.


This book is amazing.


It's changed the way I think about certain things.
things like self-worth, virtue, modesty, teaching my daughter, living up to our potential, ya know, the stuff that matters.
I must say it's been a difficult transition going from working two jobs to being a stay at home mom. I love being home with Addi more than working, no question. But it's a different challenge.
Some days I feel very unaccomplished.
I'm used to seeing results from my work instantly. I color and cut someone's hair, I see instant results. I see how it brings out her eyes, or shapes her face nicely, or the joy that she feels after getting a well-deserved rejuvination.


As a mother, you don't see the results that day. in fact, a lot of times it is quite the opposite; you work at teaching a child values, and they throw punch in your face (I keep telling myself not to take it personal :)
The results come with time.
I have to say, both a working and non-working mother have their unique challenges. I always hated when I worked. I would feel stressed the whole time I was away from Addi and worried that she wasn't getting enough "mommy time". I hated being away from her.
Now that I stay at home, it's harder to have patience, because you're around that child 24-7 so things start to wear on you more (I'd still take this over working).

I've never watched a minute of "Desparate Housewives" or "Real Housewives of whatever" so I can't really judge the shows. But...
I see the women from the shows on talk shows a lot so I get bits and pieces of what the jist of it is.
Don't those shows make you sick? Like, really, who could have all these kids and wear freakin stilletos everyday and spend a gazillion hours on your hair?? Seeing the women like that makes me a little insecure and ticked off at the same time. can we really be the best mom/wife we can be when we are fixated on looking like we just stepped off a runway, having the most lavish home, a buttload of money and going on amazing vacations with our girlfriends? Hello! when do you have time for your family?
So I get a little heated over these types of things. Maybe because it's that I feel I can never live up to that, or maybe it's because women and young women around the world are looking at these women as role models, or maybe it's because I know this isn't what being a woman is about. Maybe it's all of these things.
I used to get dressed up nicely almost everyday since I worked and i had to look my best. Now that I stay home, sometimes I feel I get a little frumpy (can't believe I just used that word).
I mean, it's like, really, I'm not going to get all beautified to go to freakin wal-mart (which by the way, I have nothing against hispanics, but it's kinda ridiculous that i have to dig through all the 'Happy Birthday' cards at our wal-mart to find one in english, and that the cashier who rings me up doesn't speak english- Period.... Just sayin)

So I go back to this book I've been reading...
there are some way good quotes I have highlighted:::


"It's important to remember we didn't have negative feelings about ourselves when we were in the premortal life because we lived in God's presence."
"You are beautiful because you are made in the image of God. His image is in your countenance. You look like your Father."
"All on our own, with nothing but the skin we're in, without a hint of doubt, we are beloved."

Love Sister Hinckley. Now that is a classy lady if I've ever seen one...

She said, "I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know that I was really here and that I really lived."

That is the kind of woman we should look up to. That is the kind of woman we should try to be. Next time I get a Victoria's Secret add in the mail and I start to get all feelin down on myself cuz I don't look like that, it is going right to my garbage in pieces!