Moms Helping Moms

I am writing this to those of you out there that have received one of my cards. I wanted to explain a little bit more about my motivation for handing these out. Since having my daughter Lily this past March it has been quite a journey being an American mom living in Aalborg, Denmark. I got the idea to create a network for International Moms in Aalborg after going on a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital with a couple friend of ours. They are from Ghana and are expecting their first baby in 2 wks. Because they do not speak much danish I went with them to translate for them. During this tour I met another American-French couple who are also here short term with the husband's company. I ended up translating for them as well. After this I thought wow maybe there are other international Mom's out there who are only here for a short time and need help adjusting to being a mom in a foreign land just like me. I am just an american mom raising our half danish/half american daughter with my loving husband Kristian. But I would really like to do whatever I can to help other moms that are maybe only here for a few years and have not mastered the danish language. I think it is still very important to have contact with other danish moms and the community. But sometimes it is nice to meet others in the same life situation that we are in. It is therefore that I would like to offer whatever assistance could be helpful to you. Translating recipes, help with grocery shopping or finding the danish word for an ingredient you are shopping for, help with understanding or communicating with midwives or the sundhedsplejesker the nurses that come to visit you after you have a baby, or just to make a play group for our kids to get to know other international families. Currently I am still on maternity leave until February so my weeks are only filled with different mom groups and play groups so I am available to chat with. It would be great if a bunch of us international moms could get together and share our stories. Please feel free to email me at fullyalive1978@yahoo.com.

I just got done reading a piece by a friend of our family who lost their 20 something son last year. As I read the words of the broken and hurt mother pouring over where the Lord has brought their lives since then i am compelled to write. I cannot help but respond with tears as this evokes new feelings in my mother's heart. I look down at my 7 month old Lily as she plays on our blue carpet her dad just bought playing with her toys. She is just at the beginning of her little life with so many dreams we have for her to love Jesus with all her heart,soul, and mind. For her to have a full life. But we never know how much time we have or how many days God has promised to give to us. Sometimes I get so caught up in getting chores done or doing other things that I forget to cherish every moment God gives us with our little girl. For none of us knows what tomorrow may bring. There is so much depth to a mother's heart that I am just learning about and experiencing. It is amazing how children can create such great joy and such great sorrow. And how it must be with God our Father and the joy and sorrow we can cause Him at times too. Oh how I think this journey of being a mom will teach me so many new aspects of God's incredible character and draw me closer to Himself. My heart goes out to this mother's broken heart Lord continue to pour your strength over this family. And thank you for these eternal reality checks on what really matters in light of eternity. Help Kristian and I to daily speak the gospel over our little Lily and live it our before her in our relationship with each other.

Romans 1:5

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There are so many things I could say up to this point after being a Mom for almost five months. It is hard to believe our little Lily Hadassa will be five months old this month. There are so many things I have learned up til now but that will come later. I am taking up the blogging again after a break. They might be short entries as my time is not my own anymore. But that is ok because it never really was anyway it was God's. I am not sure who if any will read this but my hope is that somehow there will be some who will also share their stories about being a woman striving to live counter culturally, ministering in a different country, mothering, mentoring younger women,living life with an eternal perspective, cooking and baking recipes, travelling with a baby across the atlantic. Just to name a few of the possible conversations that could happen. I hope you will take part in the journey with me.

Just a little thought from last night. I went into our first child Lily's room to find her asleep yet crying in her sleep. She seemed scared but without really being awake. I began to pray over her and finally she calmed down and went back to sleep. This has never happened before and it made me think about the importance of praying over and for our children. When she is sleeping is the time that i find moments to pray for her life. That she will be a girl of God, that the Spirit of God will move in her heart and bring her to repentance and salvation, that Kristian and I would have the wisdom to parent her and know how to develop her gifts, encourage her according to her own love language and for the man that will be her husband some day. But I need to also remember to pray for the here and now as well with her. Like the trip we will be taking in Sept. to fly to the States and visit my family. I am so thankful that we can come to our Father at anytime with anything and cry out to Him. It is like a message I heard where he was taking about coming to God like a child. A baby can only communicate through crying. Lily can only cry when she needs something to eat, has her diaper on the wrong way, is tired or just wants to spend some face time with us. But that is also how we need to come to God to cry out to him when we need Him. I am so thankful that we can cry out to Him at anytime He just wants me to be quiet enough to hear His voice.