Elizabeth Santelmann A Devoted Mama
August 23, 2022 1 Comment
There’s such a wide range of “right choices” for family culture! Don’t lose your family’s unique culture and gifts in the middle of the noise.
Each mama has been uniquely gifted by God in his calling of motherhood. He has equipped each woman with a unique set of circumstances and with a unique personality and talents. While each life looks differently, what doesn’t change is the fact that he equips each mama who lives a life devoted to him! This Devoted Mama feature is meant to encourage you that while every life looks different, a life devoted to God will never return void. Motherhood is our mission field and we are in this together.
I’m a second generation homeschool mom. Before I had kids, I worked as an after-school children’s program director. I was responsible for lesson planning, teaching and tutoring. I was so burnt out from helping homeschool kids as a teenager, teaching, and tutoring I never dreamed I would homeschool my children. But as they got older, I started realizing how limited our options were. Our state only does full time Kindergarten and my oldest was still taking long naps in kindergarten. I knew a full day of activities would be exhausting for him, so we decided to try homeschooling ourselves, but JUST for kindergarten. “Man makes his plans, but the Lord laughs.” The next year all the school shut down because of Covid. From what my friends were telling me, homeschooling again ourselves was going to be much, much easier than trying to do A/B days and digital school, so we homeschooled again. The third year we were in a rhythm, so we continued. I did realize that I needed more community, so we joined a “drop-off co-op” this year! The community and time to cook and clean alone has been so refreshing.
I’m not an early rising mama! The boys are awake early but must stay in their beds until 7. Then at 7:30 they can get up and play in their room or go eat breakfast that Joseph has set out. After they’ve eaten sometimes if the baby is still asleep, they come snuggle with me. I get up whenever the baby wakes up so somewhere between 7-8.
Three days a week the boys do their morning routine, and then start what I call a “Hands-off Morning Basket”. I’m never ready to sit down and launch into a homeschool day first off. Mornings for me are my best time to start supper, clean the house, and get things set up and ready for my day. Having work that the kids can mostly do independently has been such a game changer for this year.
Joseph comes home for lunch, then after lunch we have “rest time”. I try to collect beautiful books that they will enjoy looking at and reading. I give each boy their books and they must stay in their spot for 1 hour. (This is while the baby sleeps).
After rest time, I sit down with our oldest two to do Language Arts. Then everyone heads out to play. Right now, the boys love making bug hotels, and jumping on the trampoline.
After supper, Joseph does math with our oldest.
The other two days a week, we do slow start mornings. The boys still do their morning routine, but then I let them watch a show, so I can get ready and put some make up on before co-op drop off. I drop them off at 10. At school they do handwriting practice, memorize poetry, study art, read aloud, do nature studies, and listen to and learn about classical composers. I pick them back up at 3:30!
I adore writing and photography, which lead to managing my Instagram account and starting a blog. I play piano and encourage my boys to as well. We love to garden together.
I grew up in a Christian home and came to tell my mom that I had “asked Jesus into my tummy” at 3 years old. I’m the type of person that questions everything, so I’ve had some real swings in my faith. Because faith is something that we can’t quantify or provide data for, that makes it a real struggle for me. I terrorized my parents with questions about world religion and theology starting at about 15. Off and on the next 5 years I worked missions and writing Bible lessons for children regularly. At 23 I learned some things about my childhood faith tradition that really shook me. I threw away my Bible and decided at that time I was done with faith. Thankfully, the same questioning mind that makes me struggle with faith also leads be back to faith every time. There is too much to the world that points to a deity to ignore.
God has used these struggles in my own heart to grow me, but also to not be uncomfortable with other people asking hard questions. I am not intimidated by people doubting faith because my own heart has already asked those same questions and come back to a settled place.
My cyclical faith struggles have built into me a longing for the perfect heaven and earth where even my mind can rest in his grace without struggle with sin and human fallibility.
My favorite thing right now is podcasts. I’ve been doing a ton of study on 1 and 2 Samuel, because I’m writing a middle grade book about those books of the Bible. It will be released Spring 2023!
The study of these books has made me fall in love with the way we see God’s heart in his treatment of Hannah, Samuel, David, and Abigail! These amazing and vivid characters have never been so real to me as they are right now! In my opinion 1 and 2 Samuel has some of the best stories of the Bible!
I also read a ton of non-fiction that helps me to understand the Bible better, and I love listening to the shorter catechism questions and answers set to song with the kids.
Sally Clarkson “The Life-Giving Home” – This book encourages me to live seasonally and to include things into our yearly routine that bring beauty and point to Jesus. I don’t have to do everything every month, but rather everything in its own season.
Susan Macaulay “For the Children’s Sake” – This book has taught me that my children are whole persons, the same as I am. It has changed the way I talk to them. Respecting their intelectrather than talking down to them.
“Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament” series by Nancy Guthrie – I can’t recommend anything that has grown my faith more than this series. Learning to see the Bible as a whole, rather than broke up bits has been incredibly helpful. The book on the prophets wooed me back to faith when I had given it up.
To not look at what other people are doing and trying to copy it, but rather to look at your own unique family and your own giftings then do what’s best for your family. Your path may look like someone else’s, but your reasons maybe different, or it may look nothing like the lives of even people you respect. That’s okay, and that’s the joy of parenting do what’s in line with God’s gifts to you and your family!
There’s such a wide range of “right choices” for family culture! Don’t lose your family’s unique culture and gifts in the middle of the noise.
I’m raising three little boys in Oklahoma City. I grew up in the country, and still get confused on how this is done. So I head out to my little raised beds to dig in the dirt and head to the wooded areas in our city as much as possible!
We have chosen to homeschool. My hope is to provide them with a grace-filled childhood. So many times people choose to homeschool from fear, but my decision was created from a desire to provide as much beauty as their hearts can hold.
There’s such a wide range of “right choices” for family culture! Don’t lose your family’s unique culture and gifts in the middle of the noise.
I used to think my testimony wasn’t very interesting. How could sharing my testimony encourage someone else to love and follow God? I didn’t have any huge transformation. God didn’t save me out of an addiction or abuse. As I’ve listened to other believers recount their testimonies, my heart ached with them over the hardships that they endured. I never wanted my testimony to have the appearance of bragging or to add to the pain of what they already endured.
Several years ago, after battling years of infertility while trying to get pregnant with our first two children, I found myself miraculously pregnant with our third child naturally. I remember the morning I got the positive pregnancy test. My feet barely touched the stairs as I bounded up the steps from our basement bathroom to the kitchen to tell my husband I was pregnant. I practically shrieked, “I’m pregnant!” to my husband who by this time was concerned with my joyful hysteria.
One Reply to “Elizabeth Santelmann A Devoted Mama”
Thanks!