my friend "mommy."

will i ever feel normal {old enough} having friends that are mothers?

sweet helen weizenecker modeling a hat her mommy knitted. 

perhaps when i join the club {i've got quite a while before that happens}? nevertheless, it is deeply moving to see your childhood best friend with their child. rachel {miller} weizenecker and i played "baby dolls" until an age that was mildly inappropriate. we loved our babies. many moons later rachel now has a living, breathing baby of her own- helen marie weizenecker. rachel is a mother that inspires me. unfortunately, i don't get to see rachel as a mother often as she lives at the foothills of the mountains in lynchburg, virginia. but she is constantly explaining some knew project vis a vis our "supper club emails" {a group of close girl friends from growing up}. and i know how this woman does things. how is one a renaissance woman as they are merely approaching the age of twenty-four? i try to not be overwhelmed, and instead asked "rach" a few questions about her new mommy status. 

very soon after helen marie weizenecker was born.

q: could you ever have anticipated what loving Helen would be like? 

a:No way! There is overwhelming excitement leading up to having your first child, but I could have never anticipated what loving Helen would be like or how much I love and adore her. I have to hold myself back from squeezing her too hard and kissing her too much. I have a two-edged love for her, it is fierce and tender. I stand in awe that she is our baby, branch of my vine. As I hold her, I try to take every bit of her ever-changing self in, her cloud-puffed hands reach for my nose and she opens her mouth as wide as she can to smile. The best way to express my love to her is to kiss her, hug her, and to gobble gobble at her over and over again. I have a hard time putting her down, I want to embrace every moment with her because I know she will only be this small for a short time. 

q: what is your most treasured memory of Helen's life thus far? 

a:We live directly across the street from our church. Helen had been fussy the entire church service, so I missed church and was feeling tired and exhausted from a long night the night before. Philip, my husband, volunteered to take her home so I could stay and talk after church for a bit. I get home and go to the sink to get a glass of water. There was baby poop running down the kitchen cabinets, I think “What has happened?!” I follow the trail of poop all the way upstairs and find Helen in her nice Sunday dress covered, my husband’s white shirt is now debatably white, and the room is a mess. Philip could not find baby wipes or diapers, so what does he do? He dumped out all of the drawers, baskets, pulled clothes out of the closet, looking for the diapers and wipes.  I literally couldn’t see the floor or the bed. Philip look a bit frustrated, I looked at Helen and she just started giggling.  Oh did it ever lighten the mood! With a frustrated grin, Philip asked, “Where are the diapers and wipes?” We just all three laughed and laughed and I simply reached right under the changing table (It’s strange they would be there, huh?!) and said, “The diapers and wipes are right here!” Your children can make you exhausted and full of tears, and the next moment have you just rolling on the ground in laughter. Helen brings us such joy, even in the midst of ‘messes.’

rachel and helen (modeling another one of mommy's designs).

q: is there a work of art {painting, literature, song, etc.} that best represents your love for Helen?

a:One of the many songs I sing to Helen {okay, now if you know "Rach" you know that the thought of her singing is sweet but also really funny} quiet often is from the movie Babe when Farmer Hoggett sings to Babe to lift his spirits, “If I had words to make a day for you, I’d sing you a morning golden and true, I would make this day last for all time, then fill the night deep in moonshine.” When Helen was born, I realized more and more that you can never relive a moment you had the day before. And every day she is a day older and different than the day before.  It is the simple moments and memories in time that make life so grand. I always ask myself, “How can I bottle this moment up forever?” Farmer Hogget sings “...I would make this day last for all time...” How I do wish I could make each day we have as a family last for ‘all time.’ 

I also just love Gustav’s Klimt’s Mother and Child painting. The full embrace of the mother for her baby, and the baby is just so comforted by her mother. Her love completely encircles the child.  I once read that Princess Diana said, “A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” Gustav Klimt’s painting helps me express how I feel in that my cup overflows.

q: what is the greatest joy of being a mother?

a:The greatest joy of being a mother comes from hard work in taking care of Helen, the reward comes out in her laughs and chuckles, her falling asleep in my arms, her great need for me. There is an unexplainable connection between mother and baby. I am able to  love Helen because God first loved us. I have taken great comfort in Psalms 22: 9-10 “Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” Knowing that my baby girl I am caring for is God’s child makes being a parent such an honor and a complete joy. Especially when Helen was a newborn baby, I had concerns with if she was eating enough, why was she being fussy, etc... and reading Psalm 22 gave me great comfort that God is in control of every part of our lives, starting from before we were in our mother’s womb. 

two of rachel's creations- the hat and the baby.

q: tell me about your hobbies and other creative outlets {gardening, knitting, etc.}, you renaissance woman.

a:Besides taking care of my family, cooking, knitting, and gardening consume most of my time. I am actually in the midst of starting a cooking and knitting blog. {I will let you know when I get it up and running!} I am, oh how do you say it, obsessed and madly in love with cooking! Mainly cooking with fresh, seasonal, local ingredients to make scrumptious meals. I am a bit in love with baking artisan breads, I mill my own wheat and bake all sorts of breads. My goal is to have only raw ingredients in our house- you want it, you make it. I make our own bread, crackers, tortillas, kombucha tea, etc. We have our own garden and 5 chickens that give us fresh eggs daily. Our lovely ladies {chickens} names are- Sweet Pea, Petunia, Daisy, Fern, and Rosemary. I do love to get my hands in the dirt, especially when it comes to harvesting. We have had tomatoes out our ears- it’s a good problem to have! We have summer’s bounty: tomatoes, green beans, varieties of peppers, corn, okra, squash, zucchini, watermelon, and basil. I have been making some serious pesto- It’s pesto time! To us, preparing good, wholesome food is a way of honoring the bodies God has given us and celebrating with the delicate wonders he has provided for us to enjoy! 

Rachel informed me that this is Rosemary in her garden.

where there is love {coming from a renaissance mother}, there is art.