I started out the weekend at Influence Conference sitting in the back of the room at Emily Freeman’s talk. I have always adored Emily, but wasn’t sure what to expect walking in to my first blogging conference. It couldn’t have been a more perfect place for me in that moment. Emily smacked me in the face with such inspiration and truth, my fingers could barely keep up with my brain as I frantically typed out notes to try to remember as much as I could.
“Our influence is wrapped up in what makes us come alive” – Emily Freeman
Wow. Just wow.
My passion is moms. Encouraging moms, helping moms and being real with moms. It’s what makes me come alive. Parenting young ones is TOUGH and I never want a precious mama to feel like she is alone or can’t do it. Seeing a mom blessed and encouraged to face another day is what makes me come alive. I been working for the last year in really finding my voice, my influence and direction for my tiny space on the interwebs. I’ve been moving in a direction, and wanting to make this more than your traditional “mommy blog”.
Your art wakes up something in people. If it doesn’t, then it isn’t your art. - Emily Freeman
Am I waking something up in my people?? Am I inspiring, creating and mostly importantly being ME?
I had the honor, the privilege and the joy of bringing together the moms at Influence to encourage and love on them. This was by far the highlight of my weekend.
It encourages me to be the best I can be.
This is my art.
Motherhood CAN be your art. There is a season for EVERYTHING. – Emily Freeman
Finding a remote control in a toilet is my art. Being covered in graham cracker crumbs and smelling like sour milk is my art. This is my season, this is my art. It may not always be this hard (I’m sure it will get harder…I will have at least 3 teenage girls someday!) but then I won’t get hours of rocking my babies and singing Veggie Tales on repeat. I don’t want to look back on these years and regret that I didn’t pour into my babies enough. I don’t want to wish it away.
I want to create a generation of moms who pour everything they are into their families and walk away at the end of the day exhausted and overflowing with joy. I want us to all love this incredible precious and important job God has give us to raise His children.
“Show up and be who you already are, you bring the spirit of a LIVING God with you” – Emily Freeman
What is your art? Is it making you come alive??
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CODE IT & LOAD IT!
yup.. love you and miss you tons.. thanks for sharing your heart and reminding us we are all an artist. I did not hear Emily speak but read the tweets and can not wait for the audio
chrissy recently posted..First of many Influence recaps…
Yes, hers is a FOR SURE listen to
It was awesome!
Love your passion. My art is orphan care- I think your art is what brings up the fire in you. I see that in your writing when it comes to encouraging moms.
Yes it for sure lights a fire in me! Can’t wait to read more on your heart for orphans! Since we are adopting I’m a big advocate for orphan care too
love. love. love. and love you!
(who took that pic?)
blair @ wild & precious recently posted..#ootd #influenceconf
Love you BACK!!! Melody took it!
Oh….I took the toilet picture
Yes it is your art. Just through writing this, I smiled and said – I need to follow this blog.
‘Motherhood is an art.’ – love that.
Aw thank you so much!!! It truly can be our art, we just have to believe in ourselves!! Thanks for coming by!
Found your post/blog through the #influenceconf stream…soooo needed to hear this tonight!
Definitely a new follower…thank you, sister!
Alle recently posted..31 Days Series in October | Let Me Design for You
Yay! So happy to meet you Alle! Thanks for coming by!
Friend, if this is your art, you are creating a beautiful masterpiece. You are such a bright encouragement. Loved getting to spend time with you!
Jessica W recently posted..31 Days to Flourishing Friendships {Day 16} Key 13: Seek to Understand {+ an Influence Conf. recap}
Thank you soooooo much for your encouragement and precious friendship!
this is a beautiful post, KK! i love it.
annie recently posted..building blocks
Wandered over because you were in my BlogHer sidebar…
Beautiful post and that photo of the remote is hilarious and reminds me of my life with our crew (especially a few years ago)
Kara @ The Chuppies recently posted..12 and What I Really Want Most…
Just noticed that your family is open to adoption in the future…LOVE THAT!
We also had our first 3 in 3 years…and then adopted 2 more
Kara @ The Chuppies recently posted..12 and What I Really Want Most…
I wanted to reply to this the other day but I didn’t really know how to, so I guess your blog being unavailable gave me chance to really think about it!
The reason I didn’t know how to reply was because I feel like my whole world has been rocked during the past few years and what I always felt was my calling and my art seemed to no longer be possible. Not in the way I had thought it would happen anyway.
I find it difficult to express these things sometimes, because I never know whether to describe myself as a Christian or not. I read my bible and I pray, but I am very liberal in ways that have kind of alienated me from a couple of groups which has made me very reserved about writing about things. But basically, my faith has brought me through some really tough times and all because I felt like I was being prepared and led towards something…
I endured years of pain and difficulties with my periods, right from the time they started (aged 13) but didn’t get the diagnosis of Endometriosis until the age of 21 and even then I had to fight for it (was turned away from a gynaecologist in tears at 19 as he refused to accept how bad things were). And even after the diagnosis things didn’t get much better, in fact that got worse. In 2008/2009 I went through two chemically induced menopausal states and a second surgery, all while commuting, working full-time and dealing with discrimination at work due to my health. And all that time I had that spark of hope and faith that there was a reason for it all. I began to blog about Endometriosis, I began to talk openly about it and I thought “you know what? I’ve been gifted with the ability to write and so I must use that to make a difference”. So when I left full-time work due to being totally exhausted from it all, I began to write even more about it and opportunities fell into my lap. I felt it was a gift, that in some ways it made me much more aware of the suffering of others and that this in turn made me much more compassionate.
And deep down there was a tiny spark of hope that we might one day have a family, that the Endo wouldn’t rob me of my fertility and that all the pain through the years would have been worth it. Because my other “gift” was a love for and ability to connect with children and I wanted to raise a large family. We knew we might not be lucky and I had kind of come to terms with that and decided if we weren’t able to fall pregnant within a year we would look into adoption and accept that God had a different plan for us.
So when I fell pregnant our second month of trying I was ecstatic. I thanked God so much and spent a week in a daze. Until the sickness kicked in. And then a new battle arose. One which I was unable to fight because I was so sick. And one which, though providing us with the most beautiful gift of all (Oscar) has totally rocked our world in very scary and confusing ways. But again it gave me another chance to use my gift of writing and I have worked hard with a UK based charity on this during 2012.
But I have spent a large part of the past few months feeling very angry, Angry that the Hyperemesis has robbed us of the dream of having a large family (we may be brave enough to try a second time but not multiple times). Angry that the challenges of the past few years led to my husband’s depression. Angry that because I had to leave work in 2010 we’re now in a financial situation where I have to return to work and so I don’t even get to stay home with the child we were blessed with. And angry that all the things I ever thought I was working towards have been whipped away in the blink of an eye.
And then the other night I found myself downstairs late at night, in floods of tears and crying out to God to show me the way, and I ended up reading James 5: 7-19 and a peace began to fall over me. I still have a lot to work through, but I was reminded that I need to have patience. That things aren’t always obvious right away. That maybe God still has an amazing plan for me and my family and that it just requires a little bit more sacrifice and patience. In all that had happened I had started to lose my faith in that and I needed the reminder. I was angry because I didn’t want to have to sacrifice any more, I felt like I was done and surely it was our time for a bit of luck. But then I remembered Oscar and how amazingly wonderful he is and what a blessing he is and that sacrifice is worth it for blessings like that!
It didn’t change anything overnight. I still have to find work. I still have issues with my Endo. We still have to carefully decide whether we’ll ever be brave enough to have another baby of our own. My husband is still struggling with his depression. But I have a renewed sense of patience to help me through. And I guess, in a sense, that is my art. The art of getting through the tough stuff and finding the hidden blessings within it all. I lose my way a lot, but it’s something I have spent many years perfecting and am sure will have plenty more chances to develop in the future. And if I can pass on that sense of faith, hope and resilience to my child I will be happier than ever.
Sorry, this is a ridiculously long comment. You touched a very raw part of my heart with your question xx
Forgot to say that I love your art and love your blog. It personifies everything I always associated with motherhood and family
xx