Tuesday, August 11, 2009

"Before I was a mom . . I was a Mother of Many...

Before I was a mom...
MamaBlogga Group Writing Project
Before I was a mom was a long life ago...a life of

HOPE DEFERRED

Month after month I was deferred to hope for the next cycle...
Year after year longing...
Imagining a child in my arms.
Dreaming of toys I could make
Quilts I could sew...
Things I would teach...tenderness I would share.

Hope Deferred makes the heart sick...
After a blur of months turned years a decade had passed.
Proficiency at every endeavor became my child.
Keeping my life full and never giving up or giving in...
Before I was a Mom I was a child in a safe haven adored by my man.
Life was about those goals based in becoming the best of who I could become and supporting my husband in the same.

Year after year after year.... drawn out 16 years gave way to
a hope so long deferred that all time had stopped.

Dream like a rainbow in the sky that had become overpowered with a lack of humidity diminished. All I could do was not to let bitterness or hardness inter.

Him do I see...it was long a wait.
Never holding or having the privilege that all around me parents were squandering and abusing.


Before I was a Mom...
I was
The Mother of Many.

Children from all around found way to my yard as I gardened and tended the earth. They would come and find a place to rest. To chatter and look into the eyes of a tender another.

Before I was a mom I was the 8th of siblings who had but become strangers to me of my own necessity.
An Aunt and then a great Aunt many times over.
Most strangers even now.
Their lives I missed out on to gain recovery of my own.

Before I was a Mom in our first home the two children from next door who are now grown women would come and rest at my house the sweet child the younger girl I even named my daughter after. She really was my favorite and drove her momma nuts so she could come and color at my table and let her big sister have a lone time at home.

Before I was a mom a held a Navajo boy in a Sunday school class who refused to look into my eye...only to learn later that it was his cultures greatest show of respect toward me.

Before I was a Mom I was a
Mother of Many...

Two doors down a sweet child named Heather came to find a safe haven as her mother (a neighbor) lay helpless intoxicated in her shower stall after her own mothers death. This child who came and never ceased to chatter had kittens in her upturned t shirt. She sang to me and showed me her talent...no one else was able to take time for her. This child was driven off of a cliff and I mourned her death and the loss of her sweet life.

Before I was a Mom
I was the mother of many.


As a Mother of Many being a Mom of my own two is a great honor and a responsibility. It is in this my role to balance those hats. Those children who circle my own have my compassion. Those children who circle my own have often soaked as would a dry sponge all that they thirst for that I might have at the ready.
In field trips and art presentations all for no pay of dollar I stand rich at the ready.

It is strange to support so many friends of my children...
But before I was a mom ...I was who I still am only now...busy busy busy...

Before I was a mom I watched with great desire to gain understanding and to hope to learn how to equip the children (others) and my own... with all they have need of to be dependent first, independent then that they would be able one day to gain interdependence throughout all their lives.

I am a Mother
16 year hope deferred taught me to not squander...
at 20 year hope showed me healing and a step into surrender...

Yet Still It is that I am a Mother of Many
A woman of a barren womb.

Becomes one of a open full heart availability to all children.
I am as my sweet sister calls me
the pied piper of children (not the bad guy piper but the one who is beloved)
Children are drawn to me like a magical magnetic field...
It is my balm for those many years wanting.
It gave me an infinity to care more about them than many others.

Before I was a mom I was available
now as the new school year starts...
it is still that the children are the priory...
that is the service work of my lifetime.

What is so totally awesome a wonder is the joy of the role I call
Being ...
My own Childrens' Mother.

Even still
I am
The Mother of Many




The theme this time around will be (drum roll please!): "Before I was a mom . . ." As always, feel free to take this in any direction that strikes you.

The submission form (not yet updated) will still be at http://www.mamablogga.com/contact/group-writing-project/

Also, just FYI, I'm going to allow entries to be submitted through next Friday, I think.

Thank you again for participating and I hope to see your entry soon!
--
Jordan McCollum
MamaBlogga: mom's search for meaning
http://www.MamaBlogga.com

3 comments:

Photo Princess said...

Beautiful Donetta :)

Annette said...

you had me thinking about before I was a mom, and the picture wasn't so pretty, but now my picture is beautiful, like yours, cause I am a mom now. I wish I had you for a neighbor for my children to come over and garden with you, color at your table or just to sit and chat with. Our world is a better place because of moms like you!
I love you~
Hugs~
Annette

Jordan McCollum said...

You know, I don't think it matters in the end whether or not you've birthed the children that you nurture. In my church, we often say that all women who nurture children—even ones who aren't "really" part of their family—are mothers.

Thanks for participating again!

Older women likewise teach the younger women...

• how to love their husbands
• how to love their children
• how to be self-controlled
• how to be pure
• how to be keepers at home
• how to be kind and submissive (not subservient) to their own husbands. (See Titus 2:3-5)

Blog Archive

By Maya Angelou

'A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ
That a man should have to seek Him first to find her.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean living,'
I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain...
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Words have power. Here are a few of my favorite sayings.

  • A warm cup of tea is like a cuddle with a friend.
  • The North American Indians have a more eloquent word for ‘friend’ than we do in English. In their language, the word for friend literally means, “the one who carries my sorrows on his back.”
  • Return with Honor
  • The sage anticipates things that are difficult while they are easy, and does things that would become great while they are small. All difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a previous state in which they were easy, and all great things from one in which they were small. Therefore the sage, while he never does what is great, is able on that account to accomplish the greatest things."
  • "HOME IS WHERE YOUR STORY BEGINS"
  • “Live so that when your children hear these words they think of you… Fairness Caring Integrity Honesty Love Trust.”
  • "O Lord help my words to be gracious and tender today, for tomarrow I may have to eat them."
  • "No man has ever been shot while doing the dishes"
To The Ends Of The Earth
Sisters by Heart

Click here for all crafts

e patterns My sister told me of this site

Please pray for her parents and family

Please pray for her parents and family
Amy has clicked her heals and flown to her real home. There is no place like home.




This was given to me for the third time in just a few weeks.

Zephaniah 3:17 NLT
"For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

Thank You Ross

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Thank you all for the kindness you have shown me with every Award. I am embraced. You Are a blessing.

Thank you Michelle

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Thank you Annette they are beautiful
Thank You Annette
neno award from Kat


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