Well, I am up before the sun. I fed my 3 month old babies, Claire and Leah. They help me get up while it’s still dark. I stayed awake after putting them back down to sleep.

I dressed myself in my gray imitation Uggs boots and my light blue fleece robe without a tie. (Ry always steals my robe ties for part of a costume, mostly Ninja Turtle headbands I think). I stumbled downstairs and made coffee. It is still perking.

Now, I am upstairs in my office “closet” on a laptop, wondering, what am I doing trying take on all the Proverbs 31 wisdom?

Well, I have to start somewhere. So, why not at the beginning.

Proverbs 31:10

¹⁰ A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

First things first. I am a wife. But, what is this noble character business? All I can think of is a wife that is brave and knows how to curtsy.

Noble Definition: possessing, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals

Noble wife, okay. I possess decent morals and most of the time I think my ideals are solid.

Am I worth far more than rubies? Let’s see, just to be cheeky, I’ll try to figure out my salary!

According to Salary.com my yearly income, in my zip code, as a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) of 4 kids is $133,544. Salary.com put together some of the responsibilities of SAHM and listed them in an hourly form. Below is an example of the hours.

Housekeeper	16.5
Day Care Center Teacher	14.7
Cook	13.1
Computer Operator	9.2
Facilities Manager	8.6
Van Driver	7.3
Psychologist	7.2
Laundry Machine Operator	7.2
Janitor	7.1
Chief Executive Officer	5.5

I am sure there are more responsibilities like nurse, referee, and gift shopper. Not to mention, all the extra pay that would ensue from literally being available for 24 hour on call services like bad dream cuddling, wet-bed changing and late night baby feeding.

The point of Proverbs 31:10 isn’t lost on me entirely. I realize that a wife of noble character is worth more than anything or any service money can buy.

Well, I better go throw some jeans on and ingest some of that coffee I smell downstairs. The big kids are up and so is the sun.

Love,

Jess

Molly and I went wandering.

She was buckled into a baby backpack still wearing her jammies and I was geared up with my camera and a huge coffee craving.

During wandering maps aren’t crucial and time is of very little importance.

Wandering is fun when I am by myself or at least as by myself as I can be with Molly on my back. I differentiate wandering from exploring or even adventuring. Exploring is gathering information from a new frontier and adventuring requires a certain element of danger.

Wandering is walking on or off the beaten path if and when I want to with ease.  It promotes inner joy and satisfaction in nature which all lead to my ability to hear and meet with God.

Here are a few of my favorites from my wandering photo walk with Molly at Family Camp.

Please visit our flickr set for the complete series if you’d like!

Fern in the ditch on a dirt road.

The water was fine, a bit chilly though!

Old school house door.