Alhamdulilah, I’m heading into the home stretch with this pregnancy! As each day progresses, I think about how to balance our life that feels so scattered, and how to meet the needs of everyone in our family. In shaa Allah I’ll share our lessons as time goes on.
One thing that keeps coming back to me is to reduce the amount of outside responsibilities I have pulling me away from home. It feels like a requirement in our society to have some sort of outside recognition that we, as mothers, are more than just maids and cooks. I enjoy the intellectual stimulation I can achieve when working with volunteer organizations, but I always feel guilty leaving my family yet again, or telling them I have yet another conference call and to stay quiet. Alhamdulilah, I’m stepping away piece by piece from various organizations, realizing it is a season in my life to focus on my family and the community will benefit in sha Allah from that focus in due time.
Balance, balance, balance. I love being an advocate for homeschooling and lowering our eco-footprint, but as each day ticks away towards my due date, I have to remember my reach does not need to be on the scale of someone who is working full time on this effort. If I make an impact on my family and my children, the ripple effect will be worth that time. How can I effect that change with my family if I’m not there?
As my body forces me to slow down, I’m reminding myself to not plan on speeding back up as soon as I’m physically able. As the saying goes… “Think globally, act locally.” I’m going to start in my (literal) backyard. In sha Allah take time to play, make a garden (we’ll see if we get there with a brand new baby in the spring), and be a positive force for my kids.
I’m getting super excited to meet this little one… and loving the bonding moments in the quiet of the night when he/she is so active!
In shaa allah may you have an easy delivery and may you have a healthy abd righteous baby…
Ameen. 🙂