Choices - part 4

During the summer, I was on a mission to find the best curriculum for our family that we could afford on our very, very tight budget. Believe me, it was not easy. I started my search by reading the recommendations by the Duggars (http://www.duggarfamily.com/links3.html). They had homeschooled for years and I thought, if someone already has these sites in one place, why should I go searching, just start there. It was extremely helpful to me. I began the research. I had heard of several of them and started there, but those then led me to others not listed on their site. I was amazed at all the homeschool curriculum out there. It wasn’t that long ago that homeschool was a sort of foreign word. I was fascinated at all the resources. Of course, I am a closet nerd and I LOVE to research and learn things, so I actually enjoyed my journey for the “right” curriculum. (I will do my review in another blog, but for now I will continue on.)

Another thing that fascinated me about the Duggars, was the fact that the girls only wore skirts/dresses & the boys only wore pants in public – yet they were Baptist. I had seen several interviews on that very subject and I wanted to know more. So, I began doing more research and reading. I realized that while they dressed this way because of their religious beliefs, it was also because of certain convictions they had. So, I once again began to pray about this. I do not want to follow people or a man’s idea of what is right, I want to follow God’s will for my life and my family. I asked Him to show me what His word says about this subject. Over and over I kept recalling I Timothy 2:9-10 “Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.” (NASB) Now, understand I have not ever been one to wear earrings or lots of jewelry. There was a time when I was younger that I wanted all of that, but that was a phase and I left that mindset more than 15 years ago. So, I thought…”okay, that’s not hard to do Lord. We don’t have a lot of money, I don’t wear gold (other than my wedding set & watch) and most often I don’t wear jewelry – frankly, it gets in the way when you’re caring for little ones! I also thought I dressed modestly, so I was good to go. I didn’t see a problem with anything I was wearing. But, God kept placing this passage on my heart and I kept coming back to my original conclusion. Then, one day as I was shopping I saw some little girl clothes and stopped. Now that I had a girl, I was paying attention to these things. I immediately saw what the Lord was trying to tell me. Modesty is going out the window like crazy!! Now I know adults can find “trashy, immodest” clothing if they want to, but now little girls? SERIOUSLY?? I would NEVER let my daughter wear a skirt that barely covered her bum or a shirt that you can see through – I don’t care how old she is! Not having a girl for 5 years and only shopping in the boys section, I had not paid much attention to the fact that nearly all girls clothing was becoming more and more immodest. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I remember when I was in high school that it was pretty easy to find modest clothing. But, now…it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack! I was astonished. This is what God was trying to show me – not for my sake, but my daughters!! So, I went home and talked it over with my husband and asked his opinion on the subject and what he believed the Bible taught. He agreed that the Bible does teach modesty and that women are not to adorn themselves. So, then I approached the idea of wearing only skirts. He looked at me rather strangely. I honestly think he was shocked, because up until then you probably would only catch me in a skirt 4-5 times a YEAR!! And now I wanted to wear them all the time?! Who was I kidding? But, I asked him to pray about it and see what God told him. A couple days later, he came back and said that he felt no resistance, so if I felt God’s leading I had his blessing too. So, that was settled. The girls in our family will wear long skirts/dresses for modesty reasons. Now, having worn them through the summer months I can honestly say, “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” I have not worn shorts in quite a few years, so I would wear mostly jeans & some capris in the summer. However, in Oklahoma those 105 degree days are relentless and even capris didn’t help. I felt cooler and more at ease in my skirts this summer than I have in years!! I thought, "I can do this!" Yes, I was a little worried. I was worried that the skirt would get in the way of housework, running errands, chasing 3 kids, etc. But, in fact, they've been a little more free-ing than I thought possible! Now that it's getting cooler out, I am finding new challenges, but I know that I will find a way to make it work too!!

I don't ask that you agree with us, because frankly I know many of you won't (and that's really okay). These are the choices we've made for our family. These are the choices we've chosen to live with. You need to seek God and ask Him what choices need to be made for your family. Ask Him what's right for you! Only He can answer that question for you.