I love homeschooling mothers. You are my heroines. I know you don't feel like a heroine every day, maybe not most days, maybe not ever, but you are. You could be spending your life in many different ways, but you have embraced your role as mama. You are devoting your days, weeks, months, and years to nurturing the precious human beings God has entrusted to you.

I love the chats in person, on the phone, and by email that I have had with you, when you’ve shared brief glimpses into your hearts. I hear your fears that you are missing something important, I hear your concern for your children who learn in a quirky way, I see your joy when you have had a good year, and I am so proud of you.

Your children need you so much and you are responding just as you should. When Paul spoke in 1 Thessalonians 2:7 about the way he, Silvanus, and Timothy had served the Thessalonians, he said that they had been "gentle, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children." That's you—a mother who tenderly cares for her own children. In Proverbs Solomon told his son to hear his father's instruction and not to forsake his mother's teaching. He said that those instructions and teachings were graceful wreaths around his head and ornaments about his neck. I hope you will be kind to yourself and notice those graceful wreaths and ornaments that you are creating for your children. Do-it-yourself wreaths and ornaments on Pinterest, YouTube, and blogs can be made in a few hours. Remember that the wreaths and ornaments you are making take faithful commitment for days and weeks and years—but they last a lifetime. I am very, very proud of you.