Vocation Lessons?

So I’ve been thinking lately. I know, dangerous, right?

Well, in most of the professions, there’s a little thing called “professional development”. Basically, professional development is the call for people in professional careers to be lifelong learners. To continue taking classes, attending seminars, and growing in their professional knowledge so they can continue successfully as lawyers, doctors, business people, teachers, etc.

So I was thinking, why should it be any different for an at-home wife and parent? Isn’t this my profession for now, and possibly for many years to come? Don’t I have an obligation to myself, my husband, and our child to pursue ways to continue growing into my vocation? Don’t I need “professional development” too?

The answer, of course, is yes! No matter what our vocation or profession, we all need to keep learning and growing so we can serve our roles as well as possible. The idea I had was for some kind of “vocation lessons”, where by I would read a series of books on a few different topics relating to marriage, domestic life, and motherhood.

I can be held accountable to do this by writing a series of posts about the books I’ve chosen. I also think it would be wonderful if any wives and/or moms (working outside the home or within it, or some combination thereof) wanted to participate! We could all read the same book, and then write about what we learned for our vocation from it, or we could all read a different book and do guest posts for each others blogs, or something like that. It’s really just an idea I’m kicking around right now, and I’m wondering if any of you lovely ladies would be interested in participating in something like this?

Here are some of the books I’m thinking of reading; I’m trying to get books in a wide range of subjects pertaining to wife/mother vocation:

Parenting

1. Parenting With Grace: The Catholic Parents’ Guide to Raising Almost Perfect Kids by Gregory Popcak and Lisa Popcak

2. The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley

3. The Handbook for Catholic Moms: Nurturing Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul by Lisa Hendey

4. Stay Home, Stay Happy: 10 Secrets to Loving At-Home Motherhood by Rachel Campos-Duffy (Catholic mom of 6 — She met her husband when they were both on The Real World!)

Domestic Life

1. The Family Dinner by Laurie David

2. Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

3. Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider

4. The Reluctant Entertainer: Every Woman’s Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality by Sandy Coughlin

5. Pretty Neat: The Buttoned Up Way to Get Organized and Let Go of Perfection by Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch

Marriage

1. The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian

2. For Better, Forever: A Catholic Guide to Lifelong Marriage by Greg and Lisa Popcak

Style and Wellness

1. Wife Dressing: The Fine Art of Being a Well-Dressed Wife by Anne Fogarty

2. Just Try It On!: A Month By Month Guide to Shopping and Style by Susan Redstone

3. Fit and Female: The Perfect Fitness and Nutrition Game Plan for Your Unique Body Type by Geralyn Coopersmith

4. Mom-Over by Dana Wood

It’s a long list, and I’m not going to read all of these, but I’d like to pick one from each category in the next few months to read. I’d love to know if you’d like to read any of them. This could be a lot of fun, and a great form of “professional development”. I hope you’ll consider reading one of them with me!