An Allison Post
I was expecting to feel this "ominous, metamorphic" osmosis into motherhood and parentdom...but I have to say, I BASICALLY FEEL THE SAME, just a LOT more cuteness in my life!!!
Sure I'm losing some sleep, we might be repeating the easiest meals in our dinner planning, and I'm still waiting to turn back into a pumpkin, or rather not look like I still have one sitting under my shirt (nobody told me it stays for as long as baby's been growin'!) But thanks to the many open and present women in my life, I've been feeling mostly prepared about being Allison + baby. My really issue was bottled up in this question: So what do I do now?
I felt the Spirit's guiding in that life with my baby (now known to be our sweet Zoë) would be a part of inviting people to live with me where I am sent. Discerning how to do that was my next task. So we're 6 weeks post Zoë arriving and being on maternal leave, and don't get me wrong, I'M SUPER ENCHANTED and fascinated by my daughter, and it's cold outside so you know that I choose to be faithful to my couch. But it's time to use the B-word out loud to communicate that it gets a bit boring to be at home and not apart of what's going on in the world outside me for more than a month.
So it's December 18 and we're right around the corner from Christmas. What better to do with my recovery time than bake some "Pepperkaker" (the Norwegian contender to gingerbread, pronounced pep-per-kokk-yuh)! I don't really know what i'm doing when it comes to baking, especially cookies. Coq Au Vin is my forte. Give me a basic sugar cookie recipe and my success rate plummets. So who can I call to come help me get in the Christmas spirit? I turn to my girls' small group facebook page hoping i can get at least 2 girls to come since only 1 came last year. In the past, it hasn't been easy to try and gather groups of young teenage ladies, a bit like herding cats. I pitch in at the end of my invitation that they can get to hang out with the new baby and hold her. That must've did it because I had 4 ladies show up to bake with us that night!
And so the 2 hours I had initially suggested turned into a 4 hour hangout that really didn't have much to do with the cookies, but with wisecracks about boys, lessons on how to change a diaper, and muscle toning from trying to stir really thick cookie batter. And it's funny because I see me expanding in these different roles and experiences I take on in my life. Flexibility and Submission, when coupled in God's work, produce a lot of contentment and optimism about what God can possibly do around me and in me. It was a great night with some unexpected engagement as an older woman to these young girls, peership amongst these young ladies, and comfort for my boredom. God knows how to orchestrate these events and bring people together. All we have to do is open up our hands and ask if God is willing to do it.
