Follow ME Around???

A friend of mine told me a funny story that is the inspiration for the Blog Category, "Follow Me Around". She told me her daughter-in-law is trying to learn more about homemaking and rearing a family. My friend said she had told her daughter-in-law about me and how I run a home of 10 children. Apparently her daughter-in-law replied, "Oh, if we move to Oregon, do you think she would let me come over and just follow her around for awhile?" I burst out laughing when my friend told me this because... who would want to follow ME around?? My children, my home, my life, my you-name-it, is so far from a perfect example I can't even begin! What could I possibly contribute to others?

But then I began to think back to my first year of marriage. I had no idea how to run a home (and I didn't even have children yet!) I felt like such a failure because my house NEVER looked like the ones on the front covers of the Better Homes and Gardens magazines. I would longingly gaze at the beautiful covers while standing in the check-out line of the grocery store wondering why my house never looked like that. Thankfully, my wonderful husband brought me to reality. "Corina, no-one actually lives in those homes. That's why."

So that is my hope with this category - to contribute something real, not something magazine-worthy. It's OK not to be perfect! Wonderful homes are sometimes messy, sometimes loud, sometimes chaos, but always loving. Loving doesn't show up in magazine photos. I would have given almost anything to be able to see what it was like to run a large family functional home (and school) when we were starting out. I hope I may do that for someone else. This category is all about sharing little glimpses and tips into what it's like to run a home with a large family. I especially have in my heart the mothers who are trying to create a home life they have never seen themselves - I'm excited to write for YOU!!