Pre-Order So God Made a Mother

To my dear 8th graders:

If someone had warned me that our school year would take such an uncharted and radical turn, I would never have believed it.

We had so much momentum going just before our world abruptly stopped.

We had so much left to do. More short stories and a novel to read aloud together. Poems to recite and compose. Nonfiction to uncover. We could have had so many more discussions and debates and disputes.

We still had more laughs and inside jokes and silly moments left in us.

We had spring break, Spring Fling, and our class trip to Chicago on the horizon.

You were supposed to help me finish learning The Renegade so we could get TikTok famous (again—but this time on my terms).

You were supposed to begin coasting along and I was supposed to reel you back in.

RELATED: Dear Students, We Didn’t Even Get To Say Goodbye

You had a handful of sweet moments left with your little first grade buddies.

You had your 8th grade clap-out. Your awards ceremony. Your graduation. Your final dance together as classmates.

So many big moments were taken away from you, but you were also robbed of so many ordinary, everyday memories. Lunch with friends. Recess. Passing one another in the hallway.

I am absolutely crushed that the school year ended so drastically different than ever before.

It hurts my heart that you did not get the traditional send-off you deserved. That you didn’t get proper closure.

It was painful to watch you each come in one by one to drop off your books and gather your belongings. We couldn’t hug. We couldn’t see each other’s smiles (or frowns) behind our masks.

RELATED: To the Big Kids Missing the Little Things

Though the ending of your grade school days was rather devastating, I know this will not limit or break you.

It will be a powerful and defining part of your story, yes. A plot twist for sure.

But I hope you know your story has only begun.

The chapters ahead will be filled with new adventures and hard work and lots of fun. You have lessons to learn. New experiences to experience. Love to give and receive. Knowledge to acquire. So much to discover about yourself and the world.

It’s all unwritten before you.

There will likely be heartache and pain. Roadblocks and struggles. Conflict. But isn’t that all part of the rising action in every good narrative?

My hope is that you’ll take it all in, enjoy it, and really, really live your story knowing that a hard chapter is not the end.

Soon enough, you will turn the page to a brand new chapter. A blank page.

I also hope that in writing your own story, you’ll learn that hard work is always worth it, that you’ll get out of life what you’re willing to put in it, that doing the right thing is always the right thing, and kindness can truly change the world.

I hope you know you are loved and important and worthy. You are brave and strong and resilient.

I am beyond grateful I got to be part of your story even if it was only a small chapter. You are more than ready for all that comes next, but how I’ll miss each one of you so very much. You were a highlight of my story.

This has been a hard chapter for us all. And though everything is up in the air and uncertain right now, I look forward to seeing how each of your stories unfold.

Ready or not, it’s time to turn the page.

Love,
Mrs. Willen

This article originally appeared on Leanne Willen at Life Happens When

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our new book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available for pre-order now!

Pre-Order Now

Leanne Willen

Leanne Willen is a wife, mother of four, writer, and teacher. She writes about motherhood, faith, finding joy, and grief. Her blog Life Happens When encourages and challenges others (and herself) to embrace the ordinary amid the everyday chaos of life. 

Anxious Moms Need Friends Too

In: Friendship, Living, Motherhood
Women hugging outside

When I was 32, my family and I decided to move out of state. The state I had lived in all my life, where almost all my family and friends lived. Most of my friendships were childhood friends or friends I made in college. I made very few new, adult friendships after college. Maybe I felt I didn’t really need to because there was always a friend I could call. Or maybe, I didn’t want to step outside my comfort zone, face possible rejection, and felt it was just easier not to talk to people (hint: it was definitely the...

Keep Reading

A Permission Slip for Creativity

In: Living, Motherhood
Create Anyway book in the middle of kids playing with building blocks on floor

The following is an excerpt from Create Anyway by Ashlee Gadd, available today wherever books are sold! In those first few weeks at home with a milk-drunk newborn in my arms, I Googled every little thing, hopping in and out of online parenting forums, desperate for an instruction manual. Is it normal for a baby to poop six times in one day? Does breastfeeding ever get easier? Underneath my nitty-gritty questions loomed the ultimate insecurity every first-time mom battles: Am I doing this whole motherhood thing right? Just a few months prior, I had quit my pencil-skirt-and-high-heels- wearing marketing job...

Keep Reading

The Isolation of Motherhood

In: Friendship, Motherhood
Mom sitting beside stroller, black and white image

During my early years of having children, I can recall feeling like I needed more help with juggling—taking care of my little ones and our home. Although my mother-in-law was only a 10-minute drive away, she was preoccupied looking after my nephew and nieces. Awkwardly, I would only ask if it was really necessary—like a doctor’s appointment or the dentist. Even at church, it was difficult to ask for help—either we didn’t know certain members well enough to entrust our kids to their care or they were friends with children too and that hardly seemed fair to burden them. The...

Keep Reading

The Abuse Was Never Your Fault

In: Living
Silhouette of curly hair woman in sunset

Trigger warning: this post addresses abuse. “You were a rebellious teenager, it was your fault.” Those words have been said to me more than they ever should have been. As a teen, I was groomed into relationships with men 10 years older than me. Men groomed me, and because I thought it was love and I “consented” to it, the adults around me didn’t protect me and blamed it on my being a rebellious teenager. To this day some people in my life continue to tell themselves and others that it was my fault to avoid the guilt of knowing...

Keep Reading

Sometimes Love Means Slowing Down

In: Friendship, Kids
Two boys on bicycles riding to park, shown from behind

Think of something faster than a 7-year-old boy on a two-wheel bike. Maybe a race car at the drop of the checkered flag? Perhaps a rocket ship blasting into space? Or how quickly a toddler mom books it out of the house after being told she can have a hands-free hour ALONE in Target. Yes, all of these things are seriously speedy, but I have still never seen anything quite as quick as a boy on a bike on a sunny day with endless open track ahead of him. Until today. Today, my 6-year-old son wanted to ride bikes with...

Keep Reading

To the Mom Going through a Divorce

In: Living, Marriage, Motherhood
Woman holding young girl outside, blurred background

To the mom going through a divorce: you can do this. I’ve been where you are, staring at a mountain of changes and challenges that felt insurmountable. The crushing ache of divorce, of family disruption, of building a new life, and helping my son through it all seemed endless and impossible. But eventually, I made it through to the other side, and I want you to know: the pain won’t last forever.  The first year following a divorce is an overwhelming puzzle of putting your life back together. And when there are kids involved, there is so much more to...

Keep Reading

I Wish My Family Could See More than My Faults

In: Living
Mom standing with child on dirt road

I am and always will be a self-described mini-train wreck. I’m disorganized, have trouble keeping my house clean, and my kids aren’t perfect angels. In my home, we have fights, slammed doors, foul language, and dirty dishes in the sink.  I sometimes go in the bathroom and cry so hard my mascara streaks down my cheeks—that is, when I wear mascara. Usually sans makeup and hair tied with an old scrunchy is the look I often rock.  I’m notoriously terrible about making appointments for myself, I’m constantly tired, and my nails could stand a good manicure.  I’m overweight, and I...

Keep Reading

There’s Something Special about Old Friends

In: Friendship, Living
College of pictures of friends, black-and-white photo

There is much to be said about old friends. In quotes, in the five regrets of the dying, in The Golden Girls theme song. But life gets busy, doesn’t it? It gets complicated—marriages, jobs, kids, errands. Friendships that were once part of us seem to fade into the background as lives grow and shift.  Being the always optimist, the queen of nostalgia, the friend who probably holds on just a little too tight, I have always seen the value in the old. The familiar. I’m the person who orders the same menu item every time at my favorite restaurant. I’m...

Keep Reading

8 Fight Songs for the Single Mom

In: Faith, Living, Motherhood
Woman holding earbuds in ears

They whispered to her: You cannot withstand the storm. I have had days when the storms hit me while I sat on the shower floor with my knees to my chest feeling completely defeated, letting the hot water beat down on my body. I have had nights when the storms hit me as tears stained my pillow. As time has moved on, I am learning how to beat the storms. This is only possible because of the family and friends that God has brought into my life. This is my fight song. These are and have been my take back...

Keep Reading

Take the Trip, You Won’t Regret It

In: Kids, Living, Motherhood

Two years ago, in the middle of a snowy, windy, Colorado March, my husband and I made the spontaneous decision to road trip to Arizona with our three very young kids.  Even though I was excited, the nerves were so very real. Over the next couple of weeks, I literally lost sleep worrying about the logistics of our trip. My late-night mindless scrolling was replaced by searches like “traveling with toddlers” and “keeping kids entertained on road trips”. We already had our hands full chasing kids at home in a familiar setting. Were we crazy to think we could just...

Keep Reading