[amazon_image id=”0310248175″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Professionalizing Motherhood: Encouraging, Educating, and Equipping Mothers At Home[/amazon_image]

I loved, loved, loved this book!  My book has tons of markings in it!  I wish I had read this book before I started staying home full time.  I would have been able to defend my choice to some “NEH-sayers!”

Chapters

She breaks her chapters down into four parts: 1: Shift Your Thinking (chapters 1-3); 2: Determine Your Strategy ( 4-6); 3: Tools of the Trade (7-12) and 4: Establish Your Career Training and Development (13-16)

1. Professionalizing Motherhood
2. So What Did You Do Today?
3. Take Care of the Caregiver
4. Do You Know Your True Value?
5. Is Your Family Marriage-Centered?
6. Where Are My Coworkers?
7. Fun: You’ve Got to Have a Good Time!
8. Prayer: An Indispensable Tool
9. Creativity: Let the Creative Juices Flow!
10. Grace: It Has a Place in Your Home
11. Humor: Let’s Laugh a Bit!
12. Organization: I Can’t Go Anywhere without My Planner!
13. Develop Your Partnership with God
14. Parent with Purpose
15. Make Your House a Home
16. Build an Incredible Resume!

There are personal reflection questions at the end of each chapter as well as a leader’s guide at the end of the book.

My Thoughts

I really liked this book because it really made me feel like I’m not alone and that what I am doing really is a wonderful blessing (I know this in my heart, but sometimes the mind doesn’t always feel the same)!  It was nice to be able to see it in black and white.

In chapter one, she has a section on The Value of Our Children.  I will definitely reference this when I get on my soap box.  I really feel that many of the problems that our society is encountering today is from a lack of engagement in our children.  Society wants everyone (especially woman) to believe that we can have it all.  I used to buy into this.  Now, I’m not saying that we can’t have it all, I’m just saying that we can’t have it all, all at the same time, somethings gotta give!

“To send children into adulthood who are morally responsible and emtionally mature takes an incredible amount of time and energy” (28).  I’d also like to add skill and knowledge to that list!

My biggest obstacle right now is feeling adequate, appreciated, a sense of accomplishment.  Like I mentioned earlier, I know in my heart I am doing the best thing for my family and this is something I’ve always wanted to do.  I’ve always wanted to be a “Mommy.”  And it’s very difficult for me to admit that even with all my background and education, this is still much harder than I ever imagined.  I am no where near as good at it as I had envisioned and it does not completely fulfill me.

“We must find simple appreciation in the little things:snuggling on the couch, a bouquet of dandelions, and pictures for the refrigerator door” (44).

I really liked chapter three; especially when she talks about the difference between good and best; capable and called; urgent and important and our source of strength.

Chapter 7: I really liked the section when she talked about having fun.

I learned a lot about prayer in chapter 8, which I am very thankful for, I feel like I’m in a rut when it comes to my prayer life.  It also verified my feelings of how selfish I can be as a mom.  It even opened my eyes to more ways that I’m selfish, I probably would have taken me a while to see that way.

Chapter 10 is wonderful!  I like the respond or react section and her description of “grace space” (161).  “Forgiveness is not an emotion at all- it is a choice.  It is an action” (161).

Please read page 166, I loved the paragraph on mothers’ self-worth.

Chapter 14 is a must read and should be handed out at a baby’s 6 month check up!  🙂

Chapter 15 from pages 238 to the end really spoke to me.  “If you become too busy to read your child a book because you must have a perfect house, you’ve lost your proper focus” (241).

Jill Savage ends the book with this quote: “There is no better job than one that invests in the lives of people.  The profession of motherhood is a worthy profession” (247).

I hope you will take the time to read this great book and that it blesses you as much as it has blessed me.

Visit Jill Savage at Hearts At Home.

Visit her on Facebook.

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Here are her other books that are on my book list this year:

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