A Wonderful Life

 Earlier this week, the Lord brought a very clear, succinct thought to my mind while I was getting ready for the day. It was this: "Babies can't deliver, but moms can. Try to deliver patience when your baby doesn't deliver on your expectations. They can't intentionally deliver one way or the other." I am one of the few women you may ever meet who actually enjoyed being in labor and delivering my child. I look back at that approximately 8 hours of active labor and 25 minutes of pushing as a very peaceful, wonderful, beautiful time and have fond memories of it. I know this sounds crazy, but that was my birth experience with my son. I'm not into eastern religion, but if I've ever had anything close to "Zen," I think it was during labor. However, delivering emotionally can sometimes be quite challenging for me, right along with keeping everything in perspective. Especially patience, when I'm tired. Not a great track record on that one. But ...

At the end of September, I was honored to be a guest blog contributor on a friend from college's blog with some of her family. The post is called, "Where is everything going and who am I without it?" And it talks about some challenges I had a few months ago with my identity regarding my changing responsibilities at work. Check it out: http://theruthexperience.blogspot.com/2013/09/guest-post-where-is-everything-going.html

When I sit down to write, or even think about it sometimes, it's almost like falling in love, because I get swept up in the process of getting my thoughts out on paper, it's sort of a romance at times. It fills me up, while allowing me to empty the things that have weighed me down, and it's quite spiritual, even when the contents aren't particularly so (because my faith is very integral to the way I try to process things). It's pretty great. But I don't do it enough, if I'm honest. Here's something that's been on my mind lately about our parenting journey so far (which you can probably gather from prior posts has been uniquely challenging). When I fearfully, but honestly shared with my husband several years ago, early in our marriage, that God had given me a special spot in my heart for people who have special needs or are "different," I also shared that I'd be open to parenting someone like that, if God called us to that. It ...

We received a little book of bedtime prayers to read to our little guy when we were pregnant, and one of the prayers is titled, "You're never, ever alone." It is a little cheesy and even rhymes, but it teaches that no matter what, no matter where, God is with you. It is so basic, but it's a reminder that I've needed a lot, and so have many of my friends. In the last several months, God has brought me conversations with other women, where God has used me to assure them that they are not alone in various circumstances. One friend was dealing with family and friends who kept telling her "how small" she was in her pregnancy, and some family members even told her to her face that they didn't think she could accomplish a natural childbirth as she desired (for those who did not get comments about being "so small," it often made me feel as though people thought I wasn't eating enough or doing pregnancy well, which this momma was feeling too)....

Have you ever thought that when you see someone post on social media about how amazing things are going for them with work, kid(s), relationships, etc., with an edge of sarcasm in your thought/words? I unfortunately feel as though it's possible that my struggle with NOT thinking that from time-to-time has increased since becoming a mom. For instance, recently, a friend posted how their son, who is less than 2 months old, is in 9 month clothing... my son is 16 months old and is in 9 month clothing, too. Another friend whose child is slightly older than mine has quite the vocabulary and is very mobile; my son has Mama and Dada down, says "Ma" on occasion when he wants more of something and just this week has started saying things that sounds pretty close to "towel" and "bubble," respectively, and now we are working on making associations with what those words mean. And at 16 months, he is finally learning to crawl forward and can cruise the furniture...