Before becoming an at-home mom, Christina, a 33 year-old mom of four, was working in the corporate world. She was employed by a well-known Midwestern corporate entity as a communications consultant, writing both internal and external communication pieces.

She and her husband Doug, who is self-employed, had placed their infant child in daycare as Christina returned to full-time employment. The couple found it difficult to discover a caregiver whose values coincided with their own. Christina recalls changing daycares quite a few times. She remembers feeling a lack of hope in ever locating someone whose views matched her own. She found the overuse of technologies such as television in one daycare to be an annoyance, and not in line with what she believed was best for her child. Feelings of guilt were a constant presence in her spirit.

Although it was a complex time, she found somewhat of a solace in the fact that she and many others were laid off from their positions at her workplace. Christina used her newly unemployed state as a springboard into her stay-at-home mom-hood. She was now beginning her trek of full-time parenting when her child was already four years old. She took on the challenge with hope for the future she still had left.

Christina recollects the changes in lifestyle as being very difficult to withstand in the beginning. She felt pangs of occasional longing to buy new clothing and luxuries like the expensive home decor she had become accustomed to. Christina jokingly notes that she now uses the library as a place to “shop” where everything is free, and the satisfaction of leaving with a bag full of stuff is exhilarating! The financial changes have become just another part of life to her now, but she admits that sporadic yearnings still creep their way to the surface.

Supplementing her husbands’ income is not something that Christina has felt a need to do over the years. Although she has on occasion taken on some free-lance writing assignments, she finds that the energy invested in these tasks could be more importantly poured into her family and children.

Initially, Christina struggled with the feeling that without and income, she had little worth. She has since come to the realization that parenting in itself is a worthwhile profession. Christina has also discovered that by allowing her husbands’ income to be the only source of means, it helps her to respect his role as leader in their home that much more.

Now home schooling two of her four children, Christina is enjoying the new lifestyle God has blessed her with. She now takes pleasure in the freedom to be able to “read a book for an hour” with her children. This had seemed impossible when she was a working mom, due to time constraints and low energy levels. Christina believes that a love for books has been cultivated in her children because of her lifestyle adjustment, and imagines that love may not have ever flourished otherwise.

Christina admits that being with her children all day is many times more frustrating than dropping them off at daycare was-but that she has traded that luxury in for a closer relationship with her children. She now has the ability to know them in a personal way, saying, “I am finally able to know my son better.” A natural benefit, simply occurring, that one couldn’t possibly conceive hanging a price tag from.