Being followers of Christ makes us different.

Through the lens of our faith we’ve had to evaluate why we do many things. How we dress, what we watch, what we listen to, where our children are educated, what we celebrate and why we celebrate it.

…and today is Mother’s Day.

Because today I do not get to celebrate with all of my children. One left this world less than one month after she entered it.

My Mother’s Day (just like everyday) is incomplete.

But then I started to think further along these lines.

What makes a mother?

It isn’t becoming pregnant. There are many awesome and dedicated moms that have never carried a pregnancy and they are still mothers.

It isn’t the process of birth. There are women who have conceived and have not birthed a live child and they are still mothers.

It isn’t the raising of children. There are some women who have children that never live long enough to grow and receive instruction and they are still mothers.

Motherhood happens in the heart before anything else.

It happens the moment a women realizes that she can and will care for someone in need of guidance and mentoring and nurturing. Often it will be at the sacrifice of her own comfort.

…and those that she chooses to love this way may never live under the same roof as her.

I am blessed to know women who may not have “children of their own” but are certainly mothering many! I know too many who have never brought their precious babies home, and whether or not they are blessed with another child they will always be moms. I count myself blessed to know dear women who have chosen to bring home their children through adoption, knowing fully that shared bloodlines do NOT make a mom.

So this Mother’s Day and those that come after I will refuse to think inside the box and limit the calling God has placed on women’s hearts. I will celebrate the heart of women who look beyond their own wants to see the needs of others.

I am thankful for the women related by blood who have raised me with love and to love, and I am thankful to those women related by His blood who encourage me to live for Him.

Happy “Mothers” Day

The post Seeing Mother’s Day in a different light… appeared first on CreativLEI.

As part of the kick-off I’m joining other attendees and posting

“10 Things #2to1Conf Attendees Should Know About Me”

10. This is the first homeschool, blogging, or homeschool-blogging convention I’ve ever attended. (…and I’m a little intimidated at some of the names I’ll be in attendance with, I respect the voice you all have through your blogs and elsewhere, a little “star-struck” I guess)

9. This is only our second year schooling at home. (…and it’s been harder than I ever could have imagined and excellent for all the same reasons)

8. I am a kinesthetic learner so if I’m in your session and I’m knitting, doodling, drawing or lettering I really am paying attention, it’s just the way I learn. (…I’m sure there are more than a few of you that understand)

7. I’m hoping that the hotel has a hot tub along with the pool. (…but lets face it, it’s been a rough year and I don’t exactly want to put on a swim suit)

6. Although I’m a skirt-wearing, backyard-gardening, bread-baking, laundry soap-making, shawl-knitting, yarn-spinning, wool-dyeing, suburb-living momma I’ll always have an NYC heart deep down. (…but no, I don’t say caw-fee)

5. Because of #6 (and the fact that I’m Italian-American) I’ll always be a food snob. (…and I don’t think it is a bad thing)

4. I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for a little over ten years (he’s so awesome that when I first entered a giveaway for the conference he said “Can I sponsor you?”) and the Lord has blessed us with 6 beautiful children. (…our sweet Miranda went home to Him in October 2011)

3. I’m a little apprehensive about the weekend because the dates are very significant to me and it’s still a bit raw. (…but I know how good God is and that I will be in the company of a number of women who know exactly what it feels like)

2. This year has been a battle in so many ways. (…I am so looking forward for a few days to catch my breath)

1. I can’t wait to see what God has planned for this weekend and the changes that will happen when like-minded women seek Him first and purpose to encourage one another in their work to glorify Him. (Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 6:23, 1Thessalonians 5:11, Roman 15:5)

The post Top 10 Tuesday (2:1 edition)… appeared first on CreativLEI.

What in the world is that you ask?

It’s an excuse for thousands of crazy people that maintain a blog (or facebook, or twitter) to have a “show and tell” across the great wide wonderful virtual world.

…and I wanna play too.

Until now most (if not all) of my readers are those who have a “real-life” connection to me (hello to my beautiful sisters and aunts and mom and nanny and my darling husband and my lovely friends and sisters in Christ). There have also been a few of you that I have known online for a while either through Ravelry or Hyena Cart and the like (love to you all too!).

This past fall when our family went through the darkest hours of letting go of our daughter Miranda I hesitantly blogged about it so that I didn’t have to tell the story one thousand other times and those that loved us could read what was going on in our trial.

…and a funny thing happened.

I started getting readers that I had never met but shared an unimaginable bond with. I was let into an intimate network of sisters who were walking similar paths. Even more amazing was finding a network of sisters that had not forsaken their faith in a Savior that is just, even through the nightmare.

Healing is a process, kind of like a scraped knee. It doesn’t (usually) just get better over night, a scab has to form, that often gets picked or snagged off and must form again, sometimes multiple times, and when it is finally healed the skin is not often the same as it began, there is a scar. The knee probably still works as well as before, but it is forever marked.

For me blogging is a bit like that.

My posts will range from introspective when the scab has been freshly ripped off, or just be a recap of daily life, our home-schooling, or showing off my baking prowess on those days where the scab is there but dulled over a bit.

Our lives are irreversibly changed by the loss of Miranda, but grief does not define me or my family, our faith in a righteous Savior does.

…all the rest are minor details.

I’m Lisa, otherwise known as Lei, Leimarie, Mom, Sis, the woman behind CreativLEI… and this is my blog.

The post always late to the party… appeared first on CreativLEI.

It’s not hard because I can’t talk about Miranda. I love talking about my daughter. Unfortunately it often seems there is more of the “bad” to talk about than the “good”. I don’t shy away from opportunities to talk about her or tell about her short life, especially when someone is interested in more than the medical side of it, because the stories tied to Miranda that declare God’s glory are amazingly abundant.

It’s hard because I sit here with nearly six months worth of hindsight and countless amounts of information that wasn’t readily available when I needed it most.

At nearly six months after her birth the rawness of the emotions has dulled quite a bit and the way I am able to process things now is quite different.

It doesn’t mean I’m over it. It doesn’t mean the tragedy is minimized. It just means I can assess the road we’re walking with what I think is a pretty balanced footing.

In my interview today the nurse mentioned knowing Miranda’s purpose. I didn’t answer her because I still feel everyday we find out more and more of her impact and our purpose through it. But we knew her purpose on the night she was born, it’s what gave her her middle name…

Her life was meant to bring glory to God.

She did, and she does. There isn’t an inch of me that doubts it.

The final question I received today was “Is there anything you would change or do differently?”

I can hardly start to express all the things I would do differently if I was armed with the knowledge I have today all those many months ago.

But that’s the gift/curse of hindsight isn’t it?

The post making a choice in retrospect… appeared first on CreativLEI.