We are in that awkward stage of marriage where the holidays are no longer the “free and easy” of our dating days, when events could be attended without coordinating a babysitter. But we’re not quite to the stage of parenting where our girls can really engage with the holiday, either. But I don’t want to wait until our girls are older to start making family traditions and enjoying the Christmas season.
As a Bible teacher, the most important (and often overlooked) place I need to teach the bible is in my own home. While there are a lot of resources for teaching the bible to older children, there aren’t quite as many when your kids are young. Adeline just turned three and Geneva turns one in a month, so their understanding of the Bible is naturally quite limited.
“Just wait until you have two,” She laughed. “One is a vacation.” As a new mom, I was the object of much unnecessary, negative input regarding my solitary offspring. Once I had two – I was told – life would fall apart and all semblance of routine would go down with it.
Perhaps it’s my personality, but when someone tells me something is impossible, my first inclination is to prove them wrong. But really, it’s not even about them: I want to prove to myself that it’s possible to enjoy motherhood, enjoy my kids, and enjoy life – all at the same time.
I’m going out on a limb talking about this; a limb the mommy wars might saw off at any moment, and I’ll go tumbling to an untimely internet death.
But this message is worth the fall, if I take it. Because I’m really over the assumptions we’re making – these assumptions we women make about each other.Â
I’m reading the bible chronologically this year. Every morning finds my clunky, awkward journaling bible propped halfway between an armchair and an endtable, coffee spilling with each elbow bump as I turn pages with one hand and hold my nursing baby with the other. Sometimes my eyes are so heavy I can’t remember which part of the Tabernacle I was reading about two minutes before. Sometimes I re-read a passage three times as my two-year-old interrupts with tears or toys.
The little girl cooing in the bassinet joined us only four weeks ago, but with each passing day we love her more than the one before. Geneva Anne joined us on October 21st. She took her time getting here, and judging by her personality so far, that will be par for the course (unlike her sister Adeline, who had to be two weeks early and continues to operate on a packed social schedule and abundant extroversion). As I finally sit down to share her birth story, I see the grace of God for her specific entry into the world – the same way Adeline’s birth was the grace we needed for that season.
In the first few months after Adeline was born I think I read close to forty books. The library was my best friend! So when I was planning for my postpartum with Geneva, I immediately started an Amazon wishlist of books to read. I made sure to include the ones I’d been wanting to own (I’m pretty picky, and keep a minimalist bookshelf!) and some new releases I’d been waiting to arrive!
I wanted to share our family’s routine for family devotions at night with you all, because this is something the Lord has placed on our hearts and we want to be faithful in it. With that being said, please don’t take this in any way as us lifting ourselves up or trying to come across as super spiritual. Family devotions are not for everyone, and the last thing you want is guilt to motivate you to get in the Word as a family.
We all love a good birth story. It’s one of the first things women will discuss when they start talking about their babies. Either that or the horror stories that get told to first-time pregnant mamas. Today, I’m not here to share either. I’m here to share that you can have a positive view of God even when birth and the postpartum season don’t go the way you want.
When we met (online) two years ago, we were both expecting baby girls, just 1 day apart. We didn’t have chance to meet until after her Addie was born, and eerily enough, she had no idea my baby girl would have been called Addie, too. I am so grateful for her friendship, especially as we walked through the trials that child-bearing has brought, and so excited to share with you, her readers, today!