The Journey Begins

The journey begins,
 
It felt like it took me a long time to get to this point in my life. When you’re a person of many passions, sometimes you dip your feet into many things; I’ve been a youth worker, a camp counsellor, a nanny, a Behavioural Line Therapist, Special Educational Assistant, math tutor, worship leader, church nursery volunteer, greeting, communion and usher director, a mentor, moms group coordinator, photographer and at one point an aspiring musician trying to write the tracks to her first CD. Some of those passions went “places,” served a time and purpose; some crashed and BURNED.

​I’ve taken on way too many things at times, had busy seasons (I don’t think ever slow seasons?). I’ve brought things into my life and taken things out and then I became a mother. If you ever need to clear your schedule and slow down (but not really slow down)...do that! Ha!
 
Through motherhood, time became precious; a gift. At first a shower was bliss, then a power nap while the baby naps. Simple pleasures became everything to me. Slowly old passions became not priority and new passions blossomed. New passions like pregnancy, birth and sharing my story, helping new moms and imparting any wisdom I could to ease their journey into motherhood to be a smoother process and give them a sense of strength. A passion to bring mothers together to do life, messy, hard life; a journey not meant to be done alone.
 
So why Raise Them Well? As a mom of two, momma time was and is far and in between. If I’m going to spend time on anything, it better be worth it! Something for ME, something I was passionate and gave me a sense of joy and used my gifts. I sat down and wrote a list of my passions and tried to navigate how to spend and use my time, but not recently...three years ago. Yes, this has been a journey!  As I continued to seek what God had in store for me, he reminded me of my passion to write, to mentor and to teach. And there came the idea of a blog! All my passions combined into one outlet.
 
But what name? What would I include? Do I want to include my faith? Do I really want to take on this huge undertaking? What if it fails? What if I don’t really have time? What if it’s another thing that crashes and burns? OR...What if while raising my kids that I get to share what I learn? What if what I share inspires others? What if this blog connects moms together? What if it’s exactly what God always had in plan for me? What if this stay at home momma could actually DO something BIG, bigger than herself, bigger than her thoughts or plans? What if I follow Gods nudge, take a step of faith, leap, and start?

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​So here I go! Now to name this blog...If I’m going to write about my motherhood journey, I might as well start when it first began. Not many know this story, but that’s what this blog is about; honesty! Picture this...four months married, driving home from work, listening to some current hit on the radio when all of a sudden the thought pops into your head, “You’re going to have a son. Raise him well.” Wait...what!? I’m a true believer that God speaks but that’s to people in the bible only right?! But it had to been from God!? Where does that thought even come from if not and how do I tell my groom of 4 short months? “Umm honey, so God spoke...” I was terrified.
 
Long story short, through God’s blessing and guidance in our faith and marriage and direction for our life, I became pregnant 8 months into marriage. I remember so clearly going into the ultrasound to find out the sex at 20 weeks and the tech asked me “so any mom intuition on boy or girl?” I laughed. “It’s a boy,” I said. Our Noah arrived September 2013 and then Isaac, April 2016. Hence, Raise Them Well.
 
Over the years, God has continually brought me back to those first words, “raise him well.” Not perfect, well! It is so easy to get caught up in parenthood, get caught up in all things we “have” to do, “should” do and check off our boxes that we covered every virtue, Godly characteristics, oh and they must not just be kind and patient, but smart too! The expectations we put on ourselves to raise these perfect beings (or else we failed) is exhausting!
 
So here’s to my journey, my step of faith, following Gods lead and call for my life to Raise Them WELL; through Gods grace.

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