Over the past few years, I’ve read a lot of blog posts — by my friends, acquaintances, people I’ve never met, other writers that I enjoy.
Many have blessed me, offering just the right sentiment at just the right time. And though I sometimes think that too much of life is shared in the blogosphere, there are other times when I am grateful to be a simple reader, soaking up the words of the wise ones around me.
There are a few in particular that have stood out to me as favorites — and that I think back on to from time to time.
I thought that maybe you might like them, too.
This link was shared on my Facebook wall the night that Kate was born. Perhaps my favorite blogger, Kelle Hampton, shares her story of the night her second daughter was born with Down Syndrome — life-changing news that, like us, she didn’t know until the delivery room. I read it in the dim light of the hospital with my husband at my side. We both wept as we read it, holding our beautiful Kate, just hours old. And at a time when I couldn’t express how I felt, Kelle said it for me. I’ve followed her blog ever since — it’s charming, beautiful and truly inspiring.
An excerpt from her blog post:
I knew the minute I saw her that she had Down Syndrome and nobody else did. I held her and cried. Cried and panned the room to meet eyes with anyone that would tell me she didn’t have it. I held her and looked at her like she wasn’t my baby and tried to take it in. And all I can remember of these moments is her face. I will never forget my daughter in my arms, opening her eyes over and over…she locked eyes with mine and stared…bore holes into my soul.
Love me. Love me. I’m not what you expected, but oh, please love me.
2. To the mother with only one child
Simcha Fisher is a great writer — witty, honest and entertaining. She is well-known in the Catholic blog world, writing often about faith, family and politics. I haven’t followed her work as closely as Kelle Hampton’s, but I did stumble upon this beautiful post early this year and thought it was wonderfully written. As a mother of nine, Simcha shares a bit of honest encouragement to young mothers who are just starting out with a young baby.
An excerpt from her blog post:
To become a mother, I had to learn how to care about someone more than I did about myself, and that was terrible. But who I am now is something more terrible: the protector who can’t always protect; the one with arms that are designed to hold, always having to let go.
Dear mother of only one child, don’t blame yourself for thinking that your life is hard. You’re suffering now because you’re turning into a new woman, a woman who is never allowed to be alone. For what? Only so that you can become strong enough to be a woman who will be left.
When I had only one child, she was so heavy. Now I can see that children are as light as air. They float past you, nudging against you like balloons as they ascend.
3. Life doesn’t have to be easy to be joyful
Jennifer Fulwiler is another popular blogger in the Christian writers’ circuit. She talks very openly about her conversion from being an Atheist to a Catholic — and offers a lot of interesting commentary that people from any faith perspective would find interesting. But what I enjoy most about Jennifer’s writing is the way she applies her faith perspective to her views on motherhood.
An excerpt from her blog post:
The more I think about this, the more ready I feel to welcome those cameras tomorrow. I think I’m okay with my life being documented the way it really is. Because, if it all goes well, they’ll end up showing a hugely pregnant woman waddling around her not-super-clean house, sometimes getting frustrated with all the chaos, walking past old pictures of herself where she was obviously thinner and richer, and it will be the story of someone who has learned that life doesn’t have to be easy to be joyful.
I find that the blogs that I enjoy the most are written from a faith and family perspective — because for me, the two are inseparable.
The writers aren’t snarky or over-indulgent. They’re not unrealistic or complainers. But they are honest, optimistic — and fully aware that motherhood has its hard parts, but at the end of the day, it is the sacrifice and self-giving that make it so awesome.
