Living Over A Bowling Alley

From the time my dad was four years old to the time he was 21 years old, he lived in a little two-bedroom apartment with his mom and dad directly over a bowling alley.  His bed was right over the place where the balls hit the pins.  I asked him if it was hard to get use to the noise and he said it was at first.  {Now I know why he is such a good sleeper and can sleep anywhere!}

His dad was a machinist for Abbott Laboratories and made very little money but he never wanted his wife to work.  He wanted to be the provider and have his wife home taking care of the home and my dad.  I asked him if he ever felt poor.  He said he never remember missing one meal or going to bed hungry. He had a roof over his head, clothes on his back and a mother and father who loved him dearly.

My mom was raised by a milkman and his wife. They had seven children and my mom's mom never worked outside of the home. Men back in those days didn't want their wives to work. They wanted to be the provider and protector even though they had very little. People were content in smaller homes, only one car, few clothes and very little stuff.

My dad said times were different back then. He never wanted my mom to work. He liked having her at home raising us. He worked very hard so she would never have to. Most men seem to care much more about building their financial empire and buying things than their spiritual lineage through children walking in Truth.

A doctor wrote me the other day this email ~

 After almost seven years of government service and in agreement with my husband, I will be leaving my job with the government to return home full time in approximately 23 days (resignation letter will be delivered Friday, please pray for me here:-) and also to work some of the businesses God gave me as ministry in many ways. Your blog kept me encouraged as I made the hard steps toward this transition. I could say so much more but I am so looking forward to the return to home as I have for many years had to divide my attention between work and family to a detriment of not only my health but on some level my family. I feel extraordinarily blessed that my family was not terribly compromised however but my stressful job really inhibited my ability to be all that I know God wants me to be to my family {husband and one son} in the way of service. 

I am so happy for her. Every female doctor that I know personally regrets begin a doctor once they have babies. They want so badly to be able to be home full-time but can't because of all the debt they have from their education. This woman has realized that her true ministry is to her family. I am praying more and more men are realizing the value their wives have of being stay-at-home moms and learn the value of having and buying less stuff.

Keep your lives free from the love of money
 and be content with what you have, 
because God has said, "Never will I leave you; 
never will I forsake you."

Hebrews 13:5