I decided that this is the day I start blogging again. For many reasons. 1. I love to write. 2. It’s something I am passionate about and 3. Love.

I have a strong pull to stay home and raise my kids myself. Some mommies are really blessed that their full time jobs only take them away from the home 1-3 days a week. As a teacher this is 100% not the case. In most cases teachers know its 5 days a week 8-12 hours a day.  Being away from my daughter longer than 8 hours a day is just not an option for me.  Not all moms feel this way and that’s okay too.

I continually put off writing and blogging for fear of what other people think but today I said “NO, you’re going to do it.” And so I’m doing it.

15 weeks ago when I gave birth to my daughter my life was changed drastically. More than I EVER expected. Honestly.  It’s been 3 1/2 months of really hard, difficult, messy transitions and mostly trial and error on our parenting attempts. But even greater than that there has been a ton of LOVE. The first 6 weeks of her life I thought to myself “I need to go back to work. This is boring.” fast forward 6 more weeks and I feel completely different.  Love is funny that way.

My daughter taught me many things about LOVE. It has been, to say the least, the most humbling experience of my life. I wish I could put it into words. I feel like being a mother has given me the ability to love in a greater capacity. NOT saying this is true for everyone but being a mommy has soften my heart and opened my eyes.

Judgement. I used to pass a lot of judgement. What a silly waste of time. NOW I see every friend, family member, stranger, student, coworker in a new light…”someone is their mommy. someone loves them the way I love Isla.” What’s the use in seeing people for their flaws? There is none.  Being a mommy has given me a new concept of LOVE.  My husband is amazing at loving people and not passing judgement. I could learn a lot from him. But instead it took carrying a child for 9 months and spending 15 hours in labor and 6 weeks of recovery for me to get it 😉

My goal this year is to blog through my experience of being a mom. 2015 has a lot of new things for us as a family. Many challenges. Many blessings. Many opportunities.  I’m taking some time to breath. Some time to write. Some time to get healthy and some time to raise my baby. I’m not sure what that looks like but I’m pretty excited, nervous, nauseous, anxious to find out.

I would also like to put a disclaimer on my writings 🙂 I am a woman of faith, and while I fall shorts on a daily basis, my strength coms from the Lord. I have to give Him the glory for everything in my life. Good and bad. No circumstance can take away from that.  If you read my blog well THANK YOU for encouraging me in my journey, but if I mention my faith it’s not to judge you or to say your way of life is wrong. It’s simply different.  Again LOVE is my new outlook on life.

One of my favorite quotes says it perfectly: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You do not have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” – Rick Warren

I have many friends with many different beliefs and I love them all the same. But I ask that you give me the same GRACE 🙂

More to come…

Love,
J