by Charlene N.

Created on: June 28, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

My choice to be a stay-at-home mom was not an easy one. After five years of graduate school, scrimping and doing without, my husband got his first good-paying job. We were looking forward to finally paying off bills, buying long-deferred luxuries (like a TV!) and maybe even getting ahead. But I'd been feeling sick for several days, so on my husband's first day at his new job, I took a pregnancy test and our lives were forever changed.

We had nine months to decide what we were going to do. Since my husband would bear the burden of supporting us, it had to be a decision that we both could support 100%. But once we held our newborn son, we both knew we could never leave him in someone else's care. I became a stay at home mom.

Many people, when they learn that I am a SAHM, will say, "You're so lucky that you can stay at home." Luck has nothing to do with it. We made a decision that requires sacrifice from both my husband and I. We've never owned a car less than three years old. We've only bought one piece of new furnitureour bedstead. We were married 10 years before we bought our first TV and VCR and it was another two years after that before we'd saved enough to buy a house. Our first two computers were hand-me-downs. I shop clearances for our clothes or make them and we've never taken a big vacation.

I have to work hard to help make ends meet. I cook from scratch to keep our food bill down. I make bread, yogurt and sprouts for salads and stir-fry. I grow a big garden, fruit trees and berry bushes and then can or freeze all the produce we grow. I sew a lot of our clothes. I reupholster or refinish the furniture we buy at estate sales or auctions. To save electricity, I hang our laundry on the clothesline and I made insulated curtains to keep heating costs down.

My duties are non-stopcooking, cleaning, gardening, chauffeuring, counseling and refereeing. Being mom, help-meet, lover and homemaker means I'm on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to my children's extra-curricular activities, I also volunteer in the community and am very involved in local politics.

But it's not all hard workthere's lots of enjoyment. Even though there are a thousand things needing my attention every day, for the most part, I can order my own time. Whenever a child is sick or injured, I am able to be there, to comfort and nurse him back to health. I was there for the first step, the first word and the first bicycle ride. I'm there to see them safely out the door and to greet

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