SortaCrunchy

Of mermaids and moral dilemmas

Photo by kathryn_rotondo

Today marks day four of being trapped inside by The Great Ice Storm of 2010.  Our power has stayed on, and we are so truly grateful for that as tens of thousands of others in our part of Oklahoma have been without power for days.  We have, however, discovered this life truth: a DirecTV dish covered with ice is not so great with the reception.

We've played a lot, we've made up games and played crab walk tag.  We've colored pictures and worked over soft dough and danced and read.  But sometimes a mama needs a break.  TV isn't an option, so yesterday I dug around in our movie bin for entertainment/relief. 

At the back of the movie bin, I found the special release two-disc DVD of Disney's The Little Mermaid.  I purchased it several years ago, just giddy at the idea of watching my all-time favorite Disney animated film with my girls.  I had to swallow quite a bit of disappointment when Dacey consistently chose doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-Dora over Ariel, Flounder, Sebastian, et al.  Recently however, both girls have taken a liking to the Disney princess crew, so I figured I would give it another try.

Sure enough, the eyes of both girls glazed over as they became entranced by the curvy red-haired mermaid with the enchanting voice.  Dacey looked at me with shock and awe when I sang along word-for-word with Ariel's song "Part of Your World."  I found myself enjoying the movie so much that I posted this as my Facebook status update:

Today I'm reminded that The Little Mermaid is Disney's best soundtrack EVER!

And noted as an afterthought:

Although I have to admit I'm not 100% in love with message it's sending my daughters.

You know, the more I have thought about it, the more concerned I've become about the message of The Little Mermaid.  And now I've become concerned about becoming concerned about the message of The Little Mermaid.

I've been known to roll my eyes in the most subtle, imperceptible, and polite way possible when I've heard other mothers of little girls talk about Barbie bans in their home, and I nearly choked on my coffee the first time I heard a mom mention how highly sexualized the Disney princesses are.  I guess somewhere deep within, the little girl who amassed a big-time Barbie collection and who has been to Disney World four times heaves a big sigh and mutters under her breath lighten up, y'all.

Perhaps it's because I'm smack-dab in the middle of Vicki Courtney's study called Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter and this very week has been the chapter on S-E-X.  Maybe that's why I am finding myself super-sensitive to the thinly-veiled messages about sex and love and femininity that ooze into every aspect of our culture.  And maybe that explains why I felt like I was watching The Little Mermaid again for the first time yesterday, finding myself alarmed that:

1) Ariel really is drawn to be sexy.  There is no denying that.  I suppose it would be hard for a mermaid to be anything other than sexy, what with the bikini top and all, but Ariel is curvy and her red hair flounces around her ravishingly, and then there are those big ol' doe eyes.

2) The song lyrics, though delightfully crafted, carry a really questionable message.  Consider the exchange between Ariel and Ursula as Ursula convinces her to trade her voice for legs.  Ariel's plight, you remember, is to make Prince Eric fall in love with her in three days (Bachelor, anyone?).  She wonders, "But without my voice, how can I . . .?" and Ursula instructs, "You'll have your looks, your pretty face, and don't underestimate the importance of body language!" and goes on to sing

The men up there don't like a lot of blabber
They think a girl who gossips is a bore
Yes, on land it's much preferred
For ladies not to say a word
And after all, dear, what is idle prattle for?

Come on, they're not all that impressed with conversation
True gentlemen avoid it when they can
But they dote and swoon and fawn
On a lady who's withdrawn

It's she who holds her tongue who gets her man!

Wait.  What the what?  And yes, yes.  I totally know and understand that Ursula is the bad guy, er, bad girl or bad sea creature.  The villain.  You aren't supposed to believe what she says.  I, an adult, I get that.  My grasp on abstract thought is fully matured.  But Piaget reminds us that a child doesn't even begin to mature into mastering abstract thought until she is around twelve years old. 

Hmmmmmmm.

3) As Dacey watched, she told me, "Hey mom!  Guess what? Ariel is sixteen!"  Sixteen and trying to win the heart of the prince.

4) Kiss the girl.  It's the most charming song in the entire movie, right?  The melody, the harmonies, the collected voices of the creatures of the deep led by the smooth-as-silk baritone - it's the Pièce de résistance of the entire show.  And tucked right into that sweet little romantic song is Sebastian suggesting this to Prince Eric:

Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl

I wonder how Dacey and Aliza Joy's daddy would feel if a young man who wants one of his daughters took Sebastian's advice to determine if she wants him, too.

5) Okay, even if you've just been skimming along until this point (who can blame you?), stop here.

The one message that bothered me the most about The Little Mermaid is this: when Ursula is persuading Ariel to become a human and go after Prince Eric, Ariel says, "But if I become a human, I'll never be with my father and sisters and again!" to which Ursula purrs in response, "But, you'll have your man!"

That?  Crawled into my thoughts and bothered me.  As much as I would like to sit here and say, "Oh, I've watched that movie dozens of times - and all of the other Disney movies, too! - and I turned out okay!" 

But here's a little truth about me.  From the time I was a freshman in high school until the day I got married (three days shy of 21), I was never without a boyfriend for more than three months.  My adolescence was one long quest to get my man.  And to keep him.  I gave very little regard to who was left hurting in my wake - family or friends - as long as I got my man.

I'm not blaming Disney or their animated musicals.  I am self-aware enough to realize that a complex and complicated set of circumstances and history and predisposition all worked together to shape the young woman I became and the choices I made.

But it has all been enough to give me one long pause.  Am I ready for my five year old to start dreaming of romance?  Do I want her to have even the slightest exposure to the get-your-man-at-all-costs approach to relationships?

Is it all just harmless fun and I need to step away from the paranoia?

Or is it really just that in the past few days I've had too much coffee and too little fresh air?

I don't know the answer to any of this, but I sure would love to hear your thoughts.

(the Vicki Courtney link above is an Amazon affiliate link)

this is us.

One of the main things keeping me from time online this week was preparing for Dacey's fifth birthday party. 

As it turns out, we have to postpone because of this little situation:

view outside our bedroom window

Yep.  We are in the midst of a full-on, good ol' fashioned Oklahoma ice storm. 

We're celebrating Dacey's big day quietly today - she's still in her jammies and greatly enjoying the trampoline her daddy "built" for her.  Of course, I've spent most of my day thinking about her first birthday.  Blinking back tears as I imagine what the next five years will bring.

Anyway.

We fully expect to lose power in the next few days as the power lines finally surrender to the ice and snow accumulations, so I'm thinking my time away from here may last a few days longer than expected!

I know a handful of you are stopping by from Crunchy Chicken today, and I'm happy to share how we use cloth wipes here (read more here, here, and here).

In the meantime, we are sipping hot cocoa and popping popcorn and I'm reminding myself that even in the midst of an ice storm - Blessed be He.

Laundry Week

Photo by Ingorrr

Life Laundry.

Closing for the week to tackle it.  I know you understand.  See you back very soon!

Steady Days winner!

Well now.  Did I say I would announce the winner of Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood Saturday morning?  Let's make that Saturday evening.  (I got distracted with enjoying my family this weekend.  I think Jamie would approve.)

Before I announce the winner, I want to say this - as I read each comment that came in for the book giveaway, I kept thinking, "Yep! She would love this book!" and "She totally needs this book." 

If you are ready to grow in your approach to motherhood, if your desire is to create workable and flexible order in your home, if you always have good intentions regarding the way you teach your children or capture memories or structure your days but never quite follow-through, or if you have ever just wanted someone to sit down with you and say, "Oh, is this part not working for you?  Here's how I do it, and it just might work for you, too" . . . I can't tell you enough how much you will enjoy this book!

Okay.

The Steady Days winner is Blessed Mom who said

I would really like to figure out to get organized, how to structure my days to make the most of the time I have, and how to enjoy the season of life that I'm in.

Thanks to all who entered, and I encourage you seriously consider investing in a copy for yourself.  Don't forget that you can get to know Jamie Martin better over at Steady Mom.

(comments closed)

The above link to Steady Days is an Amazon Affiliate link.

just the rundown

Photo by Daneila Vladimirova

That's not me, but the sentiment is pretty accurate.  Juggling.  Always, but lately more than usual.

So here's some stuff. 

1) I absolutely loved the discussion following Heavy on the Sorta!  I guess I didn't realize how little I share about my non-crunchy side around here.  I've thought of several other things I could have put on the list (Diet Coke anyone?), so I may do a Heavy on the Sorta Part Two some day.

And about the coconut oil - I've got a great guest post lined up to grow us in our knowledge of coconut oil.  That will run next week, so stay tuned!

2) My friend Laura (perhaps you remember her from my many Peacoat mentions here) launched Hollywood Housewife this month, and I love it.  Of course I do, because I love Laura.  But I think even if you do not know and love Laura the way I do, you will still love it.  She consistently provides great Friday links.  I'm inspired to share a few myself:

* makeshift mittens with fleece and plastic - Hollywood Housewife.  (Something else you should know about Laura is that her mom is a CREATIVE GENIUS!)

* Shannon of Nourishing Days is running a little series on Huge, but Easy Steps Towards a Nourishing Diet.  I am learning a lot.

* The 2010 Weblog Awards (Bloggies) rolled out the finalists last night, and I am so proud and happy to see Becoming Sarah up for blog of the year!  Looking through the other categories allowed me to come across Coal Creek Farm and I. Am. In Love.

* Elizabeth (Bits of Sunshine) wrote a beautiful and practical follow-up to my intentional parenting post.  Whereas I tend to speak in the abstract, Elizabeth nailed down the philosophy in the concrete.  Great read.

* Last fall, Laura (Chicken Counting) wrote up what the no-knead artisan bread approach looks like in her kitchen.  She shared it with me in my Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day review, and I wanted to make sure to pass it along to you.  Great visuals!

3) Email and feed readers - if you haven't clicked through in the past week or so, you haven't seen the subtle changes I made last weekend.  I'm toying with the idea of going back to running the content in the center column instead of in the right column where I have had it for almost a year.  I also took down the sidebar buttons that allowed you to find your way around and have put up a navigation bar.  And I added Lijit search. 

Thoughts?  I think bloggers are the only ones who ponder the importance of these things.  If it makes you absolutely no difference one way or the other, you can tell me that, too.

4) Speaking of the new navigation bar, you'll see up there that says "Shop."  Click it and it will take you to my Amazon store.  I'm still working on adding items (so tedious and I am so easily distracted), but I hope that it will serve as both a reference point for books I would recommend as well as a nice way you can support SortaCrunchy.

5) And while we are talking about books I recommend, don't forget to enter the Steady Days giveaway!  It ends tomorrow morning.

So, that's that.  What are you juggling this weekend?

WFMW: Stop Collections Harrassment

We all know times are tough and the economy stinks and yada yada . . . It stands to reason that during economic downturns, people sometimes find themselves behind a bit on bills.  When this happens, calls start coming in from those painfully persistent collection agencies, right?  

This is annoying/distressful/agonizing when the debt the agency is calling on is your own, but what if it's not?  What if the agency is calling about a relative, a neighbor, or even the person who happened to have your phone number before you?

This began happening to us almost immediately after we got our Oklahoma phone numbers a year and a half ago.  The woman who had Kyle's phone number before him had racked up some debts and then evidently ditched her phone number.  Based on the number of calls we have gotten in the past eighteen months, I can't say that I blame her.

If you've ever been on the harassment end of a debt collection call, you know that they will call and call and call and call and even if you swear up and down you don't know the person for whom they are calling, they still keep calling.  And calling.

A few months ago, I came across some information that has finally put an end to the calls.

It's called the Federal Fair Debt Collections Act and if you read it carefully, you will discover:

§ 805. Communication in connection with debt collection
(b) COMMUNICATION WITH THIRD PARTIES. Except as provided in section 804, without the prior consent of the consumer given directly to the debt collector, or the express
permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, or as reasonably necessary to effectuate a postjudgment judicial remedy, a debt collector may not communicate, in connection with the collection of any debt, with any person other than a consumer, his attorney, a consumer reporting agency if otherwise permitted by law, the creditor, the attorney of the creditor, or the attorney of the debt collector.

AND

§ 806. Harassment or abuse
A debt collector may not engage in any conduct the natural
consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person in connection with the collection of a debt. Without limiting the general application of the foregoing, the following conduct is a violation of this section:
(5) Causing a telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number

This is sorta off-topic, but it is such helpful information, I think everyone needs to have access to it.  It only took a few conversations in which we calmly told the debt collectors that they were breaking federal law by continuing to call us, and eventually, the calls stopped!

Ending collections harassment totally Works for Me.

photo by katebate

Heavy on the Sorta

Y'all have served up some delightful questions for me.  I can't wait to dig in. 

I'm starting with the question from the creative and talented Stephanie of The Little Stuff of Life who asked me:

What's the least crunchy thing you do on a regular basis?

Oh, there is so much.  SO MUCH.  I truly do not know if I can pin down the least crunchy thing about me.  

This is one reason why I am so very glad that all those years ago, I had the foresight to place the modifier "sorta" in front of the descriptor "crunchy."  I know to some of you, I am crunchier than an organic baby carrot stick.  But would you believe in certain circles, I may as well be that big ol' bowl of oatmeal (with the caramelized bananas on top - yum)?

I'm just going to sit here for three minutes and free-write a list that explains why:

* occasionally feed my children some sort of processed food (a la goldfish crackers)

* occasionally succumb to the glow of the Golden Arches

* shop at W a l - M a r t on a fairly regular basis (although I do use my reusable shopping bags every time now!  The irritation it causes the checkers has become my motivation.)

* only buy organic when we can afford it

* regularly forget to get my order in on time to the Oklahoma Food Co-Op (which is a big fat disgrace) (I mean the part about forgetting to order.  The Oklahoma Food Co-Op is AWESOME!)

* have bailed (again) on shampoo-free (although I do use only Burt's Bees) (but even that isn't truly crunchy because I *should* buy local, hand-crafted, right?)

* watch TV

* allow my girls to watch TV

* called to public schools

* haven't read Nourishing Traditions and feel overwhelmed by the Real Food Movement

* don't know where to buy or how to use coconut oil (half of you just gasped and half of you are scratching your heads)

* can't sew/knit/crochet . . . more to come on that topic, though

* vaccinate (selectively and delayed, but still it does tip the scales in the direction of soggy)

* The c-sections

Okay.  So that's just three minutes of brainstorming my sogginess.  I am CONFIDENT I will remember more as the day goes along.  (If you are new here and haven't read it yet, may I suggest reading the story behind the blog name?)

But I sorta love that sorta.  It allows for all kinds of freedom.  I like freedom.

* * * * *
This is an entry in Jamie (Steady Mom)'s weekly 30 Minute Blog Challenge.

Speaking of Jamie, you can read her interview at Simple Mom here and read Rachel's lovely review of Steady Days here (her giveaway is still open and mine is, too!).

photo by reya.

SortaCrunchy Recommends - Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood

Today I have something to share with you that I know you are going to love. 

Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood by author Jamie C. Martin (all-around AMAZING woman whom I am honored to call friend) was released last Monday.  Today, it hit the #1 Bestseller rank in Amazon's Motherhood category!  Ladies, this book is incredible. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My first interaction with Jamie happened last spring when Tsh (Simple Mom) shared a link to Jamie's post called organization: intentional cleaning on her blog Steady Days.  Immediately, I felt so much appreciation for Jamie because her approach to balancing housework and parenting very closely resembled my own approach.  I had just never sat down and thought about it, let alone written it out and put it in chart form.  

In the past few months, I have gotten to know Jamie through emails, blogging, and another exciting project that is still (for a few more weeks!) under wraps.  She is so friendly, authentic, helpful, and fun.  I can say with all honesty she is one of those people who just blesses you in friendship.  When she asked me to receive a review copy of Steady Days, I jumped at the chance.  Based on her writing at Steady Mom, I knew the book was going to be good.  I just didn't expect it to be totally and completely crammed full of such good stuff!

When it comes to mothering, Jamie knows of what she speaks.  She and her husband added three children to their family in less than three years.  Her experience in this area gave birth to a passion for providing leadership, guidance, and a friendly hand to hold for mothers everywhere.  Parenthood can be so overwhelming and consuming - it's easy to lose sight of what is truly important.  Throughout Steady Days, there is encouragement to make it all much more manageable.  

Jamie knows that most busy mamas don't have time to sit down and read some big tome on effective parenting.  Steady Days is divided into four main categories - Getting Organized, Retaining Enthusiasm, Learning Together, and Making Memories.  Within each category are concise chapters full of both inspiration and practical application.  Throughout the book, readers also find pictures and illustrations which make for a nice concrete example for those who are visual learners.

Each section of this book provides gentle guidance to encourage you to grow into the mother you want to be.  Jamie encourages you to be realistic about the season of life you are in - to not get hung up on being perfect, but rather to examine who you are as a person, working with your personal strengths and incorporating new habits and philosophies to balance out the areas where you have room to grow.

Every aspect of Steady Days focuses in on intentional living - from the Steady Home Planner she will guide you to creating to the Look At Me! binders she encourages you to make to capture the moments in time you have with your children - but, again, intentional living is not discussed in some kind of lofty, purely philosophical way that leaves you feeling discouraged.  She teaches readers how intentional parenting can become completely natural and second nature.

Jamie educates her children at home and offers inspiration focused on children's learning, but in no way would her ideas be limited to homeschooling families.  In fact, she has these words to say about the education of our children:

Good teachers are invaluable, good resources vital, good facilities wonderful.  But without a parent who cares about learning alongside his or her child, these advantages can can take a child only so far.

I found this section especially meaningful.  As a parent who is called to public schools, I appreciate the support and information on how to incorporate learning into every aspect of family life.

Goodness, y'all.  I could go on and on and on here.  I feel like I don't have the words to tell you emphatically enough how very much I am enjoying this book!  It came along at just the right time for me.  For a little more information on Steady Days, I would encourage you to check out the Steady Days website, and you can learn more about Jamie and her family at Steady Mom.

One more thing about Jamie is that she is so very generous.  She has provided one signed copy of Steady Days: A Journey Toward Intentional, Professional Motherhood a SortaCrunchy reader! 

1) To enter to win this signed copy, please leave a comment below and share one area of your life in which you would like to experience growth this year!  (I want this giveaway to be open to pre-mamas, too.  In fact, this book would make an exceptional gift for someone who has not yet begun her parenting journey!)

2) You can earn an additional entry by mentioning this giveaway on Twitter.  Make sure to leave a separate comment for this.

3) You can earn an additional entry by posting this review and giveaway on your Facebook profile.  Make sure to leave a separate comment for this.

I'll draw a winner on Saturday morning at 10 AM CST!

(please note all Amazon links in this post are my Amazon Affiliate links which means that if you purchase Steady Days by clicking on one of these links, you will be supporting SortaCrunchy!)

rejoice

I hold her hair back and steady the bowl as she cries and heaves.  The coffee maker kicks on, grinding beans, dribbling coffee, and signaling the very-near end of a very-short night.  Round Two this week with a stomach virus that is hateful in its intensity and utterly discourteous in its hour of arrival, showing up both times in the dark and heavy middle of the night.

When the requisite cleaning up and comforting are done, my head sinks back into the pillow and I doze and dream of things that only dreams can connect (like Amy Karol and subways in New York City and bouncing along a dirt road in the bed of a pick-up truck).  Eventually, another cycle of sick and crying and cleaning and comfort begins, and I resign to getting up for the day.

I resign.  And even though the temptation towards Woeful and False Martyrdom invites me to clothe myself in misery, I put one foot in front of the other and choose to rejoice.

Last January, I began the year by sharing my thoughts on surrender, how it was the word I kept coming back to, the concept that would arch over me throughout the year.  Indeed, the Lord called me to surrender mightily in 2009.  At times I resisted, grasping at habits unhealthy and resenting another trip to the alter, matches in hand.

Yet many times I smiled as I opened my once-tightened palm.  He knows so much.  He is so good.  His sovereignty reins.

* * * * *

A couple of months ago, I was reading a discussion on a parenting forum, and someone shared an insight which caused my whole self to nod with enthusiastic understanding:

One thing that is important to know about the ancient world is that EVERYTHING was credited to God. So if something good happened you praised God; if something bad happened you trusted God. It's interesting to watch Ushpizin (a phenomenal Jewish movie about Sukkot made in Israel ). At one point the Rabbi is asked how he's been and he says, "Terrible, Blessed be He."  I do think there is peace to be found in trusting that no matter what happens to us, God is in control. That doesn't have to mean that He does things to us; rather, I believe it means He allows things when He knows we're ready to learn from it.

Terrible, Blessed be He.

* * * * *

When I read those words, I knew that God had given me a new word for 2010: rejoice.

There have been plenty of times in my life when I have focused on gratitude.  Rejoice is slightly different though, isn't it?  All too often for me, gratitude acknowledges what He has done.  Rejoice dares me to thrill in who He is - no matter what.

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.  (Hebrews 13:15, ESV)

When my circumstances are quilted with comfort, my eyes crinkle while smiling lips offer praise.  But there are times, times when I'm holding a mixing bowl and catching the contents of my child's stomach in the night,

when praise is sacrifice,

when I must surrender to the practice of blessing His Name,

when I remind myself that He is ever worthy of praise, completely and utterly independent of my circumstances.

Blessed be He.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say rejoice. (Philippians 4:4, ESV)  May it be so with me in the coming year.

* photo above sweet D piggies resting on the couch after a long night of sick

My Top Three Blogging Mentors (from the early days forward)

So, it seems that following on the heels of all of blogdom's My Top Posts of 2009 and My Goals for 2010 posts, we are all getting a little heads-up on amazing bloggers to watch in the coming year.  (My Google Reader is crying out for mercy as we speak!)

First, Jade Craven compiled this list for ProBlogger, and yesterday Sherri of Serene Journey followed up with her own list of 30 (hi sweet friends Rachel, Mandi, and Jamie AND fellow Simple Mom columnist Lisa!  I'm so proud of you ladies!).

Anyway, since the beginning of the month, I've been thinking back on my four years at SortaCrunchy, and I've been wanting to tell you about the women who were mentors and role models to me as I began this journey.  None of these will be a surprise to you - all three are all well-known, widely-read writers who have been blogging for much longer than I have been.  But each of them (most likely unknowingly) had a profound impact on shaping who I wanted to be in my own space here.

1. Michelle Mitton: Scribbit

Michelle was the first "big-time" blogger I read, back before I even knew there was such a thing as a Big-Timer.  She was always (and is to this day!) completely approachable.  I used to email her to ask her technical/logistical questions, and she never failed to respond with a friendly and helpful answer.

From Michelle I learned two things:

a) Consider your blog your mini-magazine.  How can you meet your readers' needs in what you publish?  How can you create a blogging schedule that readers can look forward to and depend on?  Now clearly, my blogging schedule is nothing like Michelle's, but she was the first blogger who took the time to teach and mentor fledglings in how to make a blog readable.  I consider her standards to be the gold standard.

b) The power of comment response!  Most recently it was AllisonO who made a little fuss over my comment response practices (and again - I don't always get around to it!), but others have mentioned it to me before.  I learned directly from Michelle how meaningful it is to readers when a writer takes just a moment to send a response - even one sentence - acknowledging the time and effort it took to leave a comment.  If you've ever appreciated anything I've said in response to a comment from you, you can thank Michelle!

2. Gretchen: Lifenut

Oh, my lovely, lovely friend Gretchen.  I love her so.  Gretchen is an incredible mama to seven gorgeous children who provide her with much to write about, and she is also mama to four souls who were born directly into the hands of the Lord.

The first thing I ever read from Gretchen was back in the summer of 2007 in the midst of her third pregnancy loss.  I was captivated and heartbroken by the way she described the beginnings of this loss in In Media Res, and then she wrote in In the room, while I waited:

Well, then. My final act as your mother. I really wish I was checking the box denoting my preference for morning or afternoon kindergarten. I wish I was giving you permission to go to the museum on the school bus, and yes (check!) I would like to volunteer to chaperone. I’d love to go along on something like that, to watch your face and shoo you and your friends away from the drinking fountain because there is still so much to see.

It’s just not here.

Oh.  I'm in tears all over again reading.  I've been reading faithfully ever since because Gretchen is gifted, y'all.  Gifted.  Her way with words ignites firecrackers of delight within me.  That woman can turn a phrase like no one else.  And - and! - she has a lovely vision for photography (check out more on Snap Cake - her photo blog).

What I've learned from Gretchen:

a) It's okay to be raw.  She writes with such transparency and vulnerability and courage.  About the pregnancy losses, sure.  But about other things, too.  It's a lovely and admirable thing to communicate your thoughts in a way that is unvarnished truth while at the same time delicately and perfectly crafted prose.  She never misses the mark here.

b) Be bold.  Some time ago, Gretchen wrote an article for Mile High Mamas on blogging.  Her advice to fellow bloggers was simple - be bold.  That word of wisdom settled down inside me and took root.  Those two words inspired me to express my opinions on Babywise, to reveal to you the dream my friend Laura and I share, and even to let you in on our family planning practices. 

There's something very liberating about taking that advice to heart.  When I wonder, "should I really write this?" I remember be bold.  And then (for better or worse), I hit publish.

3. Stephanie Precourt: Adventures in Babywearing

Everyone knows Stephanie.  She's an extrovert after my own heart.  She contributes so much to the blogging community.  She is generous, funny, and profound.  She has tons of loyal readers and she still takes time to do comment response and to stop by and comment on the blogs of her readers.  We share a common passion for natural living, and she has take the time to create the babywearing blogroll which is a simple way to connect with other like-minded mamas in the vastness of the blogging world.

The number one thing I've learned from Stephanie is this: you are not defined by your blog, or your blog's title.  Eventually even precious baby Ivy will be too big to be worn in a baby carrier, but I don't forsee Stephanie shutting down Adventures in Babywearing when that day comes.  And before Ivy was born, she had already found a wonderful balance between sharing about a topic about which she is passionate and sharing her heart and what her days look like in everyday time.

That inspires me and gives me hope that even if I up and go completely soggy on all of you, I can lean heavily on the sorta and lots of grace from you all and everything will probably work out just fine.

* * * * *

To these ladies I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude.  Thank you for being exactly who you are.

To all of you - unspeakable gratitude for joining me here.  I look forward to diving into your questions soon!  I hope your day is gorgeous, wherever you are.

Photo by pastaboy sleeps