Meet Hannah. The first time I met Hannah, as a camper in my cabin, I as struck by her smile and genuine "joie de vie." Camp days are long over, but the beautiful thing about this crazy, distracted, online world is that we are often able to stay connected with friends, and rekindle connections with mamas who are in the same stages of life over vast distances via facebook, instagram and blogging. Over the past few years, I've seen beautiful pictures of her little Hazel and kept up on all the parenting and creating she's done along the way, and recently became a follower of HER blog. Hannah is always up to something fun and has some great insight into being a woman, a wife, a mother and doula. Here she is:
My name is Hannah and I share my stories and life over at Joyful Life. It's a little surreal to be posting over here on Stephanie's blog! She and I go back quite a few years. She was my camp counselor many moons ago and her sister and I are still friends!
Stephanie asked me to share a bit today, being Mother's Day, about my own motherhood journey.
Perhaps like many of you, I was always such a "little mama" when I was growing up. Always the first to volunteer for church nursery when I was old enough, the "go-to" babysitter for my entire community, and playing with dolls for much longer than I would ever let on.
When I met my husband we were both keen to start a family (heck we even talked about names we liked on our first date, Hazel being the top pick, and now our daughter's name) but just not right away.... We thought we would be married a few years before we really ventured into parenthood. I was pretty content being a doula, watching other mamas bring their babies into the world and cheering them on as they did. I was content to live vicariously through them.
So we were a bit surprised when we discovered that we had a baby on the way. Though overjoyed, our plans had definitely been moved up by several years.
Although I had always felt that being a mother was my deepest calling... in reality I felt like I was hit with a ton of bricks. "We just got married" I kept saying. "I want more time with just Bob." "I want to do things." "I'm not ready." "Bob is in school." "We have no money"....
In a matter of minutes I heard that still small voice. The Lord spoke to me saying "My arm is not too short." The verse is from Isaiah 59:1 and I can't say that I knew the reference but I immediately knew that the Lord was trying to tell me that his power is greater than any trial that I would face in this new journey of motherhood. That His plan was greater than my own.
Since that day I have known the comfort of that phrase over and over again. When my baby was breech and needed to be physically turned. When she arrived in the world with lungs unable to take their first breath. When I was uncertain of my new role as mother, feelings of inadequacy robbing me of joy. When I felt judged by other mothers. When I judged myself, analyzing my own decisions and actions as a mother, pretending to know more and be more. He whispers to me "My arm is not too short," My Heavenly Father says, "I can do this, I can reach you wherever you are, no place is too dark, no problem too great for me to overcome."
I realize more and more in this motherhood journey that this is something that I really can't do on my own. When I'm short tempered and tired, when I'm feeling selfish and wanting to curl up in a ball and forget about the demands of it all (umm maybe I'm alone in that one?). I can carry on with His strength because this is my joy, it's my purpose. Sure, I'm doing other things, I'm not just a mom. But I feel so honoured to help mould and shape these little lives.
To all of you other mothers out there, I hope you have a Happy Mothers Day! Keep carrying on, kissing the tears and wiping the noses, encouraging and empowering, correcting and re-directing! You're doing a great job! No one else can do what you are doing and be your babies' mama!
Thanks so much to Stephanie for allowing me to share a bit of my story here today. If you're interested in seeing more of what I'm up to you can follow our crazy antics here and here.
Other guest posts:
Perhaps like many of you, I was always such a "little mama" when I was growing up. Always the first to volunteer for church nursery when I was old enough, the "go-to" babysitter for my entire community, and playing with dolls for much longer than I would ever let on.
When I met my husband we were both keen to start a family (heck we even talked about names we liked on our first date, Hazel being the top pick, and now our daughter's name) but just not right away.... We thought we would be married a few years before we really ventured into parenthood. I was pretty content being a doula, watching other mamas bring their babies into the world and cheering them on as they did. I was content to live vicariously through them.
So we were a bit surprised when we discovered that we had a baby on the way. Though overjoyed, our plans had definitely been moved up by several years.
Although I had always felt that being a mother was my deepest calling... in reality I felt like I was hit with a ton of bricks. "We just got married" I kept saying. "I want more time with just Bob." "I want to do things." "I'm not ready." "Bob is in school." "We have no money"....
In a matter of minutes I heard that still small voice. The Lord spoke to me saying "My arm is not too short." The verse is from Isaiah 59:1 and I can't say that I knew the reference but I immediately knew that the Lord was trying to tell me that his power is greater than any trial that I would face in this new journey of motherhood. That His plan was greater than my own.
Since that day I have known the comfort of that phrase over and over again. When my baby was breech and needed to be physically turned. When she arrived in the world with lungs unable to take their first breath. When I was uncertain of my new role as mother, feelings of inadequacy robbing me of joy. When I felt judged by other mothers. When I judged myself, analyzing my own decisions and actions as a mother, pretending to know more and be more. He whispers to me "My arm is not too short," My Heavenly Father says, "I can do this, I can reach you wherever you are, no place is too dark, no problem too great for me to overcome."
I realize more and more in this motherhood journey that this is something that I really can't do on my own. When I'm short tempered and tired, when I'm feeling selfish and wanting to curl up in a ball and forget about the demands of it all (umm maybe I'm alone in that one?). I can carry on with His strength because this is my joy, it's my purpose. Sure, I'm doing other things, I'm not just a mom. But I feel so honoured to help mould and shape these little lives.
To all of you other mothers out there, I hope you have a Happy Mothers Day! Keep carrying on, kissing the tears and wiping the noses, encouraging and empowering, correcting and re-directing! You're doing a great job! No one else can do what you are doing and be your babies' mama!
Thanks so much to Stephanie for allowing me to share a bit of my story here today. If you're interested in seeing more of what I'm up to you can follow our crazy antics here and here.
Other guest posts:
- Guest Post: "Getting it 'Right' the Second Time" b...
- Guest Post: "And Then There Were Two" by Megan
- Collaborative Post: On the Family Piano.
