{in}couragement for Mothers

A warm, sweet welcome to all of you visiting from {in}courage.  I am absolutely delighted to welcome you here!

And to my dear, loyal readers, I have to admit that I have been keeping a little something from you.  A little something that I am very excited to introduce today!

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My eyes are barely open but one part my mind is already listing the things that need to be done today, at the same time I am listening to see if the boys are up and going yet, and trying to remember if I ever actually ironed those shirts yesterday so that my dear husband has something to wear to work today.

I hear a little patter of feet across the bedroom floor and feel my youngest daughter climb in bed beside me, still deliciously sleepy and cuddly.  She snuggles against me and says "I love you, Mommy!".  This is the first time my precious daughter, who is four years old, and has only been home from China for 9 months says this spontaneously.  My mind slows, determined to focus on the amazing miracle right here in my arms.

But, as much as I would like to stay here savoring her sweetness, there are things that must be done.  The children need breakfast and we are out of cereal.  The morning chores need to be done so that we can start school on time, and soon my mind is spinning again, busy with the ordinary, everyday duties of a homeschooling mother of five.

 In the midst of the morning chaos, I reach for my cup of coffee, thankful for the comfort of daily routines.  As I walk across the kitchen my foot hits a bit of jelly blopped on the floor by a careless child causing my steps to form a strange cadence. slap. stick. slap.stick. slap... Sigh.  Didn't I just mop that floor?!

I pause briefly to ask God for grace.  Grace for myself, to cleanse my mind of the thoughts of frustration and inadequacy that threaten to come to the surface, again.  Grace for my careless son, this child that I love. This child who must learn to slow down, to be responsible, to clean up jelly when it drops on the floor, again.

In the meantime the girls begin to quarrel about who is a "good girl" and who is a "bad boy"...  I think I told them yesterday morning that they were not allowed to start that argument again...

And so it goes.  The day continues with moments of sweetness, frustration, delight, and  impatience following one another in rapid , dizzying succession.  And so goes this glorious, messy ministry of motherhood.

Can you relate?  Would you like to join a group formed specifically to
{in}courage mothers?  I am co-leading just such a group!  The other leader is a sweet mother named Virginia.

The group is called {in}couragement for Mothers. All mothers are welcome.  It doesn't matter who you are or where you are or if you have one child or a dozen or more children. It doesn't matter if your children were born to you or joined your family through adoption.  You are welcome.  We cannot wait to learn to know you and to {in}courage you (and be {in}couraged by you!)!

Virginia and I will be posting there regularly.  We will post something
{in}spirational or {in}couraging each Monday.  Each Thursday we will post a practical mothering tip.  We expect there will be many more discussions throughout the week too!

So are you ready to join in? 

Here are your next steps for joining up with us. We are here to help and want this to be as simple of a process as possible!

1) Make a friend request to Erin Martin on Facebook by clicking the link. From there, you will be added to a private group, {in}couragement for Mothers. If you have not used a private group on Facebook before don't worry! It's very simple and lends itself to a nice flow of 'conversation'. Once you are on the group page, please go to the "Notifications" bar, next to tools and help, and select 'all posts'. This way you won't miss out on anything. :)

1a) Introduce yourself!  Tell us about your child{ren}, where you live, and anything else you would like to share.  We would love to see family pictures!  We really want to learn to know each other and this is the first step in jumpstarting that process.

1b) This will be our virtual living room so kick off your shoes, grab a cup of coffee and a brownie, and settle into your most comfortable chair! You can just be yourself and feel at home here! 

1c) You are welcome to start and contribute to discussions as much or as little as you like, but we would like each person to check in and try to participate every Monday for sure!

2) Every 3 weeks we will visit up through Google chat.  The first time will be on October 23 at 9:00 PM Eastern time.  If you can't make it that time don't worry about it!  The last thing we want to do is increase the pressure in anyone's life!  You can always try for the next time!