Mother Love

Hey pretty mama!

Yes, you.

With the messy hair and sweatpants and make up free face.
The baby food stains on your shirt and the breakfast crumbs on your floor.
With the toddler clinging to your legs and the laundry piles in the corner.
The split ends and the unkept nails because you don’t have time to take care of yourself.
With the dreams in your heart and the questions in your soul.

You are lovely.
You are full of purpose.
You are doing an amazing job.

I met a new friend last weekend and in the middle of our conversation, she asked me what I did. Like most times when I get asked this question, I felt myself want to shrivel back in a small measure of almost-like-embarrassment…and I started in to tell her that, “Oh, I’m just a…” And then I caught myself…and changed my words. “I mean, I’m a mom…not JUST a mom.” She was a kind soul and immediately affirmed this sentiment, that being a mom is a high calling and full of the greatest purpose.

I’ve been mulling over this all week now. And I realize that I’ve let our culture and the expectations that it places on women to give me that sense of almost-like-embarrassment when someone asks me what I do and all that I have to say is that I’m a mother. WHAT IS THAT?! That makes me a little ticked off, to be honest here, people.

Where has our world taken us to even ever remotely feel that being a mother isn’t enough? Why do we all fight the feeling that we always need to do more and be more? I mean, I fight that feeling and I’m almost positive that you do too. How did we get to the place where the heart of mothering that GOD HIMSELF has placed within us just isn’t enough for our world? I see woman and friends all around me fighting those expectations, fighting a kind of guilt that their life just isn’t enough. I see our world that has devalued the heart of mothering and taken it outside of our homes and family and made us believe that our true value and contribution to society is out there. How could we come to believe that what we do in the every day as we love and serve and care for our children, homes, and families isn’t of value? That it isn’t enough?

I’m talking to myself here, dears. I mean, I love being a wife and a mother. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do with my life, and here I am, living in the middle of that dream. But yet I feel it. I feel that expectation from the world that I need to “do more” with my life. Like I need to run a business or write a book or start a movement or DO SOMETHING AMAZING.

And my heart breaks that I’ve somehow come to believe that what I do in my home and in the lives of the ones that I love just isn’t enough.

If you are a mom and run a business or work at an office or pull shifts at a hospital or whatever else, that’s amazing and I applaud you! And if you are a mom that stays at home and changes a million diapers and prepares a thousand meals and reads a hundred stories, that is also AMAZING and I applaud you! What you do in those small, mundane, endless moments really do matter…you are creating something amazing right there in your own home, sweet mamas.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:: I am a mother and it is enough.

What about you: do you feel that pull from the world to be more/do more than JUST be a mother?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a random catch up, so here’s a few photos and happenings and fun things from the past few weeks.

Ayla and I spent a week visiting my family in South Carolina while Ben was out in the woods for a solo hiking trip. It was such a fun week with them and I got to spend a lot of time with friends and see a bunch of extended family as well. Ben came back from his hiking trip a few days before we headed back to Tennessee, and so we were able to be together in South Carolina and do some fun things as a family there before coming home. It was such a fun visit!

PHOTOS::
1. holding hands with auntie Meg on a walk in town.
2. pool play time with one of my dearest friends and her little guy (we’ve been friends since birth and watching our babies play together was the sweetest thing!)
3. we took a family day to Greenville and had lunch and walked around downtown. this was a random note that someone left on a park bench, which I thought was such a neat idea.
4. sitting beside the river watching the ducks with these two loves.

We’ve been soaking up the summertime here in Nashville, even though it’s been HOT the past few weeks. I grew up in the south so this heat and humidity just feels normal, but sometimes I think about how gorgeous it was during the New York summertimes and it makes me want to move back…at least for the summertime. 😉 My brother and his girlfriend spent the weekend with us this past weekend, and we had about twelve of my mom’s family here for the night the weekend before…so it’s been fun to host and show all of them around Nashville. I love having visitors because I love going out in town and plus you feel like you have a legit reason to be a tourist in your own city, hehe.

PHOTOS::
1. eating peaches by the dozen! she gets covered in juicy stickiness when i give her one to eat on her own, but it’s so cute to watch her dig in with such eagerness.
2. we got a canoe off of Craigslist a few weeks ago, and went out on our maiden voyage one evening. this was obviously taken prior to getting in the water, and don’t worry, she wore a lifejacket.
3. showing family visitors around the Opryland Hotel for the afternoon. this is a great (free and relaxing) activity to do if you are in Nashville.
4. messy suppertime…i alway say there’s a reason that bath time comes after suppertime. 🙂
5. the biscuit station at Loveless Cafe. we had breakfast there with my brother and his girlfriend when they visited last weekend.
6. braving the heat to take a Sunday walk around the lake
7. realities of trying to get photos with a little one.

What about you: what have you been up to so far this summer?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!