Welcome to The Merry Momma, a blog that celebrates joyful motherhood!
I’m Lisa. I’ve been a wife since June 2010 and a mom since April 2014. For five years, I worked part-time managing a bookstore, but now I’m a full-time SAHM!
Taking care of my home, my husband, and my sons bring me tremendous amounts of joy. I’ll be honest, though – I didn’t always feel this way.
My Joyful Journey
From the moment I took my first career aptitude test, I was consumed with plans of finding my dream job. I worked hard in school, and I was sure I was headed to successful career woman status. After earning a Bachelor’s degree in economics and a Master’s degree in library & information science, I entered the job market with high hopes and lofty dreams.
Things did not exactly work out the way I expected, however. I searched for a job for over a year, but I was met with one closed door after another. As the months rolled by, I grew more and more unhappy with my life at home.
At the time, I failed to recognize the beauty and importance of my homemaker role; all it meant to me was a failure to achieve my dreams. I was completely absorbed in my own wants and desires, and my dissatisfaction with the season I was in infected every area of my life.
Eventually, I realized that I had to surrender my will and my plans to God and let Him take control of my life. In losing the things I had based my identity on, I was able to find my true identity in Christ. When I finally started to lean on Him and be obedient to what He was asking me to do, I found purpose and joy as I never had before!
The Merry Momma
For someone who was for years unsure she even wanted to have kids (read that story here), the fact that I’m starting a blog about being a joyful mother is pretty crazy.
Even after God transformed my heart and gave me a desire to raise Godly children, a good part of my first year of motherhood was an emotional rollercoaster. On the good days, it was easy to be happy being a mom. Motherhood was fun, it was exciting, it filled me with warm tinglies.
But on those rough “he-just-won’t-stop-crying!” days, or even just in the days of never-ending housework and baby care, I started letting frustration and irritability overtake me. I still loved my son with all my heart and was dedicated to his well-being, but my words, thoughts, and actions betrayed my lack of joy.
Then one day I realized I didn’t want to be like that. I don’t want my joy to be dependent on my emotions, because emotions (especially with new mom hormones!) are fickle. I want to be a mom whose joy is constant, even in the midst of chaos or frustration. I want my son to grow up knowing that no matter what, I love being his mother. And I want to look back at the end of my child-rearing years and know that I made the most of them. So, I decided to embark on a journey to practice joyful motherhood.
I say practice because I don’t want to give the impression that I think I have arrived. To make a resolution is one thing, to follow through is another story! I know I won’t be perfect – I will have days that I lose my cool, say things I don’t mean, and be tempted to run away and never come back! But that’s why this is a journey.
And through The Merry Momma, I want to share some of the things I’m learning and experiencing in the hopes that I can inspire other women like me to find their joy and to love their lives at home!
At The Merry Momma, you’ll find:
- Personal reflections on motherhood to inspire & encourage you
- Ways to cultivate more peace and calm in your home
- Tips & tricks for creating your ideal home environment
- Recipes and cooking tips
- Book Recommendations
- And more!
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Could you use more joy in your life as a mom?
(And who couldn’t??)
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