There is an old Aesop fable about the Oak and the Reed.  While the Oak is big and mighty, the Reed bends with the wind and therefore never breaks.  I’ve realised that, since becoming a mother, I have had some rather stubborn views about what motherhood should entail and how it will impact on the rest of my life.  After all, it is a huge change for anyone to adapt to and hubby and I had already enjoyed 6 years of just-the-two-of-us marriage and established a wonderful lifestyle for ourselves.  Although I was excited to become a mum, I didn’t want anything else to change.

I listened to a Mother’s Day sermon yesterday. Not only did it present some top mothering tips, it moved me to tears and has completely changed my outlook on life.

Despite my easy entrance into motherhood, a very good-natured baby, an understanding husband and a supportive family, I was afraid of becoming a stay at home mum.  On one hand, I wanted to continue to work on my career and help support the family, on the other I knew I would feel guilty whenever I spent time away from Winston.

The word ‘Homemaker’ probably doesn’t sound very appealing to many educated, qualified or ambitious women, in fact, it used to scare me. Thankfully, I no longer think that being a Mum is a humdrum task.  Not only is it challenging, rewarding and fulfilling, it is the highest calling. I have learned that “the Family is the most powerful institution on earth and the Mother is the most influential person in it.”  You simply cannot undertake such a calling without sacrifice, and sacrificial love by definition costs, hurts and inconveniences.

So instead of focusing on the things I can’t have, I will cherish this new occupation I’ve been given. Of course, I’ll need a lot of help along the way, and will probably stumble. However, I thank God that I’m no longer paralysed by fear and guilt, because I know this is where He wants me to be, right now.

Speaking of adaptability, what do you do with all those maternity dresses once you’ve given birth?  Well for most maternity dresses you’d probably discard them with glee, or pass them onto expecting girlfriends, but when you’ve got a gorgeous Soon Maternity dress like this one, you just want to keep wearing it, and for some reason, due to some miracle of sartorial engineering, it turned out that this one still worked – even without the bump!

Where: Befriending some reeds
Wear: Soon Maternity Dress / Vintage Earrings & Clutch (with pearl necklace as strap)/ Habbot Heels

Chinese Translation by Teresa Ruan (Click below to read)

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有一个老的伊索寓言讲的是关于橡木和芦苇的故事。尽管橡树又大又有力，可芦苇能随风摆动而不折断。我发现自从当了妈以后我对做母亲要承担的事和它会如何改变我的生活有一些很顽固的观念。毕竟这对于任何人来说都是一个巨大的改变，而且我和我先生已经享受了6年二人世界过得也有滋有味。尽管我很兴奋与要当妈妈这件事，可我不想做任何变动。

我昨天听了一篇母亲节的讲道。这篇道不仅谈到了当下最有用的育儿技巧，它还感动的我热泪盈眶，并且完全改变了我对生活前景的看法。

忽略我轻松的进入母亲这个角色不说，我还有一个脾气好的宝宝，一位理解的丈夫和支持我的家人，可我还是很怕变成一个家庭主妇。我想继续工作支持家庭开销，但我也知道离开Winston会让我很难过。

家庭主妇这个词可能对很多受过教育有高学历有事业心的女人来说没什么吸引力，事实上它让我感到惧怕。感谢主，我现在不认为做母亲是一件乏味的事啦。它不仅仅有挑战性，是一件值得令人满足的事，它还是一个最高的使命。我学到了“家庭是这个世界上最强大的机构而母亲是这个机构中最具影响力的人。”这个使命不可能不让你不作任何牺牲，这种牺牲的爱包括付出，受伤和不便利。

与其着重在我不能拥有的事情上，不如珍爱我被恩赐的这个新工作。当然，这段旅程中我需要很多帮助，我也有可能走错。无论如何我都感谢神让我不再因恐惧和罪恶感而瘫痪，因为我知道这正是神想要我现在做的事。

讲到适应性，你们生完宝宝之后的那些孕妇装都怎么处理的？你可能已经愉快的丢掉大多数孕妇装，又或者把它们送给那些要生的姐妹们。但如果你有一件这么漂亮的Soon Maternity的连衣裙的话你很可能会继续穿它，因为某些原因，这种神奇的工程剪裁让这条裙子就算没有怀孕时的肚子也还能继续穿！

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