WHAT Did You Call Me?!

I’m a pretty old-fashioned girl when it comes to a woman’s role. For example, I feel that it is my God-given responsibility as the wife and mother in this home to clean house, do laundry, and prepare the meals. I have no problem with the idea of a wife submitting to her husband (okay…sometimes, because of my sin nature, I do have trouble submitting,) and I believe that God designed woman as the “weaker vessel”. I'm totally okay with being dependent upon my husband to care for and protect me, because I know with everything in me that it is what God intended.

I detest the whole “women’s lib” movement. It is a slap in the face to a God who designed men and women for very specific, very different roles in order to complement one another in life. How could I respect Greg if he was always screaming for me to come kill a spider? (Apologies to my brother, Nate, and his precious wife, Suzanne, who is the spider-killer in their home because my brother is a wimp—I’m kidding, he’s a Marine, so he’s no wimp. He’s just more afraid of spiders than he is of terrorists. At least he has a sense of humor about the whole thing. I love you, Brother.)

When “liberated” women get all up-in-arms over my being a stay-at-home mom who home schools her children (*gasp!*) it kind of bugs me. I am always on the conservative side of a debate over such matters.

So, it came as a surprise to even me when I discovered that I was reacting to a particular internet article in a manner completely opposite my typical reaction.

I recently saw a post on the wall of one of my Facebook friends that was a link to a photography website. It was called “Moms with Cameras”. When I was unable to connect to the link via my iPhone, I decided to do a Google search instead. What I found was interesting: several links to news stories with similar titles.

I clicked on one such article and began to read. The writer was describing how the new trend in photography is this new “moms with cameras” phenomenon. The article stated that since D-SLRs (Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras) are getting so much more affordable, the photography industry is being inundated by these so-called MWACs. (Mom-With-A-Camera.) These moms are buying these cameras to take pictures of their kids, and they end up starting photography businesses.

Now, let’s set aside the fact that I bought my D-SLR in order to take pictures of my kids, having no desire whatsoever to become a professional photographer (which I am not.) This article positively made me bristle! I thought, “These jerks don’t know me at all!” They have no idea that when I take up a hobby, I am as serious as a heart attack about it.

When Jackson was a baby, I decided that I wanted to make a cross-stitch project to hang in his bedroom to match the Noah’s Ark theme. I had never attempted such a task, but I was determined to do it for the sake of my precious baby and his nursery decor. I chose to cut my needle pointing teeth, so to speak, on a 5 x 7 Noah’s Ark cross-stitch for my niece. I finished it in a couple of weeks and was pleased with how it turned out. The project that I chose for Jackson’s bedroom was 16 x 20 inches, had SCADS of colors and detail, and was extraordinarily elaborate. Keep in mind that this was only my second cross-stitch project ever, and I jumped in with both feet. It took me a total of about three months of work, but I finished it and framed it, and the result was beautiful.

When I decided to start couponing, I didn’t say to myself, “Hey, I think I’ll clip a couple of coupons out of this mailer and save 75 cents at the grocery store next week.” I read books, scoured the internet, talked to as many coupon-clipping friends as I could, and within weeks was saving hundreds of dollars in one shopping trip. I had a coupon box that would make Ellie Kay proud, and was laughing out loud on my way out of Meijer because I had just taken those people for a ride.

It is no different with my newfound love of photography. I spent six months saving for this camera. Do you seriously believe that I, of all people, am going to be satisfied with a few snapshots of my kids’ birthday parties or some group shot where everyone is blinking into the glaring sun? I think not.

Some of you know me, and some of you don’t. But if there is one thing my family would say about me, it is that I don’t do anything halfway. I have five kids, for pity’s sake—that’s a woman who’s not afraid to take on a project!

I am a wife, a mother, a friend, a pretty darn good jewelry lady, a pastor’s wife, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a great cross-stitcher (you ought to see the Christmas stockings I’ve made for the kids,) a singer, a blogger, an avid reader, a home school teacher, a referee, a doctor, a seamstress, a stuffed animal vet, an encourager, and a devoted follower of Christ. I’m not just some “Mom with a Camera.”

So don’t even think about painting me with that brush.