Moriah, 10, purposes to be a homemaker. Her life long dream is to be a wife and mother some day. She intends to glorify God in this capacity. When I was Moriah’s age, I did not share her aspirations. In fact, I was nearly 30 before I enjoyed cooking and cleaning. Even today it takes effort to perform these duties. I enjoy it more than I used to but home making doesn’t come naturally for me. My daughters have surpassed me in embracing biblical womanhood in many ways. Not only do they crave being in the kitchen, espouse views of having large families and working in the home, but they also hold tightly to a particular image of a keeper of the home. Let me explain.

Moriah’s arrival in my life was one of complete joy. I had her shortly after I ended my career. As I held her in my arms, I wept thanking God for opening my eyes. This precious baby girl would never have to enter daycare. She would never enter government schools.

God impressed upon my heart the foolishness of my career. As a social worker, I was intent on saving families from common social ills while I neglected my own. I spent ten hours a day, at least, away from my own family. After a five year long struggle with infertility, it seemed idiotic to place the baby I desperately prayed for in the hands of someone else for the majority of the day. Should I have continued that path, I would have missed many of this baby’s firsts and remained oblivious to the influences counter to Christian culture. Immediately, I took action to end my career to spend the rest of my children’s childhood actively involved with EVERY aspect of their lives. Moriah’s birth came shortly after I ended my career.

Moriah flourished under biblical home education developing her own convictions more advanced then my own. She embraced biblical femininity and modesty long before I would. I still remember the day she woke up and stubbornly defied me. I laid out a pair of pants for her to wear just like any other day. Moriah loved dresses since she was old enough to make a decision. That day, she pulled out a dress and with a ferocious boldness began a stand off with me. She wanted to wear dresses and that was it. Perplexed with the disobedience, I felt stuck. Ultimately, over time I gave in and allowed her to convert her wardrobe to dresses only. Moriah was not satisfied.

She wanted all the girls in the house to share her preference. A few years later, her baby sister entered the scene. She quietly influenced her sister to wear dresses. Though it was not a hard conversion. Somehow by osmosis Charity ended up identifying with her sister’s preference to wear modest clothing. All is well that ends well, right? Wrong. Those two little girls began a full court press to encourage me to wear dresses. This was not an easy task for them. After all I was raised heavily immersed in American culture and even became a feminist for a while. Simply, I liked jeans. Dresses were for special occasions like church. The girls persisted in asking me why I wouldn’t wear a dress. They suggested I just try it for a while. My response was always the same, a firm “No.” I held onto my position until my girls met my husband-to-be. He delighted in the girls attire stating that they were “little ladies”. Many conversations took place after that between the girls and my future husband. I gave way to pressure and decided to do a trial run of wearing dresses. I was pleasantly surprised with my freedom of movement and ease of navigating through clothing decisions. That is, I felt more liberated and more comfortable in a dress plus it took less time to get dressed and coordinate my wardrobe. Often I would pull a dress over my head and be off and running for the day.

Moriah shows dresses do not stop her from catching fish!!

My conversion to dresses did not come easy. Occasionally, I still wore pants. The girls and the boys in the family would complain when I wore pants. “But, Mom you look so beautiful in dresses”. I have been wearing mostly dresses for a year now. I enjoy especially ankle length dresses. My daughters gloat that they have converted their Momma.

Charity fishes in modest apparel

I have only occasionally struggled with wearing a dress in certain social settings. But, generally, I don’t feel odd. I have been impressed with the compliments I receive from strangers about my clothing. Generally, I choose dresses I like that aren’t too plain of frumpy, nor are they attention getters. It is peculiar. If I wear pants, I feel very bound and constrained.
As I have converted to modest dress, I do not impose my preference on others. I did not come by wearing dresses easily. Frankly, I was accustomed to wearing jeans and liked it. I never dreamed I would enjoy wearing dresses or feel more comfortable in them. Largely, my daughters are responsible for my conversion. Even then, I am not sure why my daughters were so convicted. We did not have any friends who primarily wore dresses. My instruction to them was not to wear skin tight jeans, low cut shirts, but I did not require them to wear dresses in order to be modest. The girls identified dresses with beauty, femininity, and freedom. And, they come to this conclusion at tender ages. After a year of wearing dresses, I affirm their conclusions.

While I would never jump on a bandwagon and insist others wear dresses in order to be biblical, I would encourage others to try it. You never know, you just might like it. I was pleasantly surprised. For those who would like to read further on modest dress, click here.

I am thankful for my daughters whose persistence challenged me to stretch my thinking in this area. They are inspiring to me. Moriah is now asserting her position in the kitchen. Moriah enjoys and often begs to make meals. Her accomplishments include making pancakes from scratch, scrambled eggs and sausage breakfast, baking cakes and decorating them, home made noodles and homemade pizza. She completes these tasks with minimal involvement on my part.

I praise God for my beloved daughters who enjoy being keepers of the home. As they take their place in the kitchen and train for their future, they are easing my burden and increasing the joy of our family with their enthusiasm.

Udderly His,

The Kansas Milkmaid