Posts Written OnMarch 2016

Embracing Pain

…Accepting pain. Even embracing it… For me, pregnancy brought on this concept, and it keeps coming to my mind over the last several months over and over again. First trimester nauseousness, puking, and stretching aches. Second trimester pregnancy gingivitis, arms falling asleep at night, burping (my poor husband!), and heartburn. Third trimester hugeness, discomfort, back pain, nauseousness, and puking again. Things I wouldn’t normally choose to experience. Our culture often tends to give us a message that pain isn’t a good thing. While as a culture we want a good end result, at the same time the culture subtly encourages the…

Influencing a Life | One Woman’s Impact on Mine

As a teenager, all that separated my family’s house from my grandmas was a large neighborhood where I used to take runs and walks quite frequently. One warm, sunny summer afternoon, I remember walking to grandma’s house for a visit. I spent the afternoon with her, and when it came time for me to go, Grandma insisted on driving me home. She said, “It will just take me a minute. Let me take you home. I can get you back in a jiffy; and it’s no trouble.” With that, she jumped into the car – barefooted! My almost 90-year-old grandma was…

Fears of a First-Time MOM

Fear is an emotion that I actually didn’t think of having (or think of wrestling with much) when it came to starting a family.  I love children! I purposely spend time with them. I have excitedly dreamed, even before I was married, of what it would be like to have a little life growing inside of me someday. I imagined how amazing it would be to have kids of my own to love and cuddle and watch as their small lives grew into big adult lives. I always dreamed of having a large family (I used to say 22 kids –…