by Lisa-Jo | Oct 20, 2014 | (in)courage, Callings, Cheering for you, No such thing as just a mom
I’ve heard the whispers. The rumblings. The women who pull me aside to share with shy and embarrassed eyes this worry that what you do doesn’t count because you do it at 2am when no one is looking except the baby who’s throwing up. Again. Or because...
by Lisa-Jo | Oct 7, 2014 | Motherhood, No such thing as just a mom, Ordinary Glory
At 17 I swore I wouldn’t grow up to be all barefoot and cliché in the kitchen. The pastor’s son laughed and told me I was destined for babies – my salvation depended on it. I grit my teeth and disagreed even when two elders sought me out after service one day to try...
by Lisa-Jo | Sep 19, 2014 | Book Club, Cheering for you, Motherhood, No such thing as just a mom, surprised by motherhood
My kid came and hugged me good night last night and put his nose up close to mine and peered at me through his glasses – “You’re a great mom,” he grinned up at me. A great mom. It’s funny how easy it is to believe the opposite. My...
by Lisa-Jo | Sep 2, 2014 | Daughters, Faith, motherless daughter, No such thing as just a mom
I knew a woman who was diagnosed with leukemia the year she turned 40. She died two years later. I turned 40 last week. And that woman was my mother. If I had two years left to live what would I do with them? If my days were numbered and my breath all counted out,...
by Lisa-Jo | Aug 29, 2014 | Book Club, Motherhood, No such thing as just a mom, Rabid fear of parenting, surprised by motherhood
You might not have grown up thinking you wanted to be a mom. I know I didn’t. You might have dodged clichés like barefoot and pregnant as wild as any schoolboy dodges bruises and humiliation in the helter skelter of dodge ball. You might have prayed desperate...
by Lisa-Jo | Aug 21, 2014 | No such thing as just a mom, South Africa, Take Action
I see you slowly creak out of bed and go take that bottle to the baby that cries for it before the sun comes up. Again. I see you scrape last night’s spaghetti off the dishes you didn’t have the energy to load into the dishwasher. I see you set the coffee...
