Now, don't get me wrong. My mother and I have a fine relationship and we are each other's biggest fans. But I know we could have had so much more. We could have had a mother/daughter intimacy that was just starting to bloom when I was a child but had to wait until my adulthood to come to fruition.

I don't want that to happen with my daughters and don't believe that it's God's will for our families. Even though the Lord has blessed my mom and me with a good relationship now (Joel 2:25), I did not want to wait on a good relationship with my daughters. The way that I nurture my relationship with my daughters is by being a keeper of my home; and only part of that process is in homeschooling. I have the relationship with my daughters that my mom always dreamed of having with me, and all the while they are learning from me about the honor the Lord has bestowed upon women by allowing them to see in their father a man who longs to serve and follow the Lord. A man who sees part of that as being the major provider of his household and allowing me to live my God-given role as wife, mother and home-keeper.

This is so exciting to me! No, I don't do my housework in pretty pleated dresses, pearls, high heels, sprayed hair and mucho make-up; but I do get to make my house a home – a real haven of rest for my husband, a secure nest for my family and a welcome lighthouse of hope for our friends.

Now, isn't that a calling worth striving and preparing for? Worth feeling honored to live?

Next time someone asks you what you "do for a living," hold your head high and tell them proudly, "I've been honored by God to be a Keeper of my home and I'm training my daughters to do the same!"

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Kim Wolf loves living in a small Ohio town with her best friends: her husband of 21 years and their daughters.  They have homeschooled since 1993 and are very active in the music ministry of their church.  She is a Miami County homeschool coordinator, a freelance writer, speaker and a contributing writer/product reviewer/Ohio coordinator for The Old Schoolhouse homeschool magazine.  You may contact Kim at wolfhomeschool@erinet.com or http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Buckeyeblog