A Pure Stay at Home Mom

A few weeks ago, Nic and I attended a class for becoming a licensed Ham Radio operator. It may sound like a random thing, but we've been pretty excited about it. (And here's a little sidenote to my story--we took the test and passed. We are now official Amateur Radio technicians. We have call signs and everything! We're cool, roger that!) Anyway, the class was on a Saturday and lasted for four hours. During one of the breaks, I had the following conversation with an older lady:
Older Lady: Hi Jolene. Where's your cute boys today?
Me: They're at home with my sister.
Older Lady: Oh, that's so nice. You are so lucky to have your sister around to help you.
Me: Yes, I'm so lucky to have her. I don't know what I would do without her.
Older Lady: If you didn't have her to help, then you would have to be a pure stay at home mother like I was.
Me: ????????

What did she mean by that? Was she implying that I am an impure stay at home mother? What does that mean? At first I was baffled by her comment. Then I felt defensive and angry. A little before I had Cole, my sister started coming every weekend to help me with the boys on Sunday. Nic had been called into the bishopric which means that we don't see a lot of him, especially on Sunday. Wrangling two little ones while eight months pregnant was difficult. Then I talked my sister in continuing to come each weekend to help me because wrangling three little boys under three is difficult too. Now I know that other women have done it, are doing it, and will continue to do it on their own, but I have the resource of a loving and helpful sister, so why not take advantage of it. Sometimes I think that some of the older women in the ward think that Nanny stays with me all week and cares for the children while I eat bon-bons all day. So after, the defensiveness and anger subsided a little, then I moved on to feeling inadequate. Suddenly I started to feel like I am a bad mom, like I'm falling very short of the standard, that I'm sub-par.

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The above post was written early August. I had continued on with what I thought was a clever and witty response, complete with five steps to being an impure stay at home mom. But looking it over, and even as I wrote it, it was still coming out as very bitter and angry. The more I've thought about this, the more I've realized that I need to let go of worrying about what others think of me or my perceptions of what others think of me. This is easier said than done, but I'm going to try. I am going to just keep trying to be the best mother and person that I can be, continually improving upon the day before, and have faith and hope that it is enough. I'm also going to remember that when I fall short, I have a very loving Savior who paid the price for me and will always make up the difference. I just need to do my best and turn to Him in all things and that will be enough.