the Provident Woman

Welcome to the Provident Woman! My name is Mary and I’m a wife, mother and math teacher (on sabbatical)…seriously, I like math, although I will never mention it again. My husband thinks it’s insane and funny that I enjoy Sudoku and teaching children what he believes to be one of the most dreaded subjects in academia. I am convinced, however,  that I am not a dork in any other way.

I decided to start the Provident Woman while surrounded by the symphony of play and noise which surrounded me in our home several weeks ago. You see, my “sabbatical” is more of a stay-at-home mom day-care hybrid role which has the perks of being around my children and family, saving on childcare and testing the bounds of my sanity by multiplying our present family size for 10 hours each day of the week. I’m  sure my husband feels as if his lunch hours are enhanced with the chaos of children’s activities, diaper changes, messy faces and the initial attack of children when he comes through the door. He is a great help and incredibly patient, though.

I have lived in Kansas my whole life, as has my hubby – although in completely different childhood settings. What’s interesting is the cyclical nature of things – his farm background, my suburban background, our suburban home, our 20-acres (which is Clint’s way of staying in touch with his childhood). You see, I grew up in a suburban neighborhood, walked to school, got my first car when I was a teenager, I tried out for cheer-leading when I was in high school even though my diving coach told me not too, graduated with a class of too many – you know the story.

On the nearly-opposite, but closer than farthest side of the state, Clint was born in a rural community and lived in a beautiful farm house outside of a small town where everyone new each other. He rode the bus to school (which seemed to always get stuck behind a slow moving tractor), drove a wheat truck to school for a short period of time, graduated with a class of eighteen, and served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints, seems to always be doing something and is 1/7th Architect. Oh! And his claim to fame was during our 2nd year of marriage when he was within a blocks distance of Nicholas Cage while on an architectural tour of Chicago…now you have been inducted into his circle of five or so people who can recount the story so that it lives on.

Clint and I met in college and even though I fell asleep during our first date, we eventually got married. I am pretty sure that earlier in the night Clint had suggested cow-tipping as an activity…I’m sure he was serious, but to this day he won’t admit it. We have three beautiful children, two girls and one boy. Both girls are clones of me at various stages of my childhood development…which my husband recently discovered while coming across some of my childhood pictures. While the girls look like me, we have discovered that our little boy not only looks like Clint, but acts like him too! We call our children our “mini-me’s.”

Our life is full of children, family, home, land, bees, work, love, laughter and everyday life.

This blog is intended to share my thoughts, a view of our family, our way of life and what-ever else travels our way. We’re glad you landed on our site.