During its baby years this blog was known as The Mommyhood Memos.
Like many bloggers, I started as a brand new mom who was new to being away from the bustle of a “9 to 5” job (mine was in full-time ministry), and I needed an outlet to process all of the change and transition. Since I’ve always enjoyed writing, starting a blog seemed like the natural thing to do.
At the time I had no idea what a blog actually was. I didn’t read any blogs. I only personally knew one blogger (a fashion blogger) and could hardly wrap my head around what she was actually building. I didn’t know any of the “rules” of blogging. I just thought I’d start a “website” to write about what I wanted to write about. Maybe people would show up there… maybe not.
Mostly I just wanted a place to write my heart out about motherhood.
It took me about three minutes to come up with the name after a quick google search of “catchy” alliterations that popped to mind, and so The Mommyhood Memos it was. It didn’t take me long to despise that name once that I was sufficiently pegged as a “mommy blogger” – a term that I would grow to feel stifled by.
Because I didn’t want to mess up my “branding” (oh, how I laugh at that now!) I stuck with the name I hated, even though I never felt like it suited me. (“Mommy” itself is a word I hardly ever use unless I’m talking to someone under the age of four.) Heck, my own husband couldn’t even get it right – it was (and always has been) “The Mommy Memos” to him. 🙂
In spite of what I thought was an embarrassing name, I continued to write and grow and love the blog. Before long it had turned into a small community of women openly sharing the joys and struggles of motherhood, as well as rallying together to serve other moms in need.
That made it all so worth it.
After a year or two of writing I began to feel pigeon-holed by the name and wanted to expand my writing into different realms than just motherhood and parenting. I began another blog – Clink Clink Five – where I wrote for five minutes every day, unedited.
Perhaps that is where I really fell in love with writing. No subject was off limits. Writing there taught me to trust myself more, practice more, lean into my intuition more, find a writing rhythm, and write even when I felt like I didn’t have the time. Half a year into my new writing discipline we took two overseas trips (to America and Papua New Guinea) and I never quite recovered my groove after returning.
Stripping the blog back to just my name (AdrielBooker.com) has been brewing in my head and heart for a long time now. I’ve longed for a place that better represents who I am – a mother, a wife, a woman of faith, a creator, a writer, a mobilizer, a teacher, a champion of those who need a voice to be given to their life and their story. I wanted a place where I could continue to write about motherhood, but also write about my life, my faith, and my work in developing nations on a broader level.
The underlying current of this blog comes from the ancient Psalms:
“Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand… My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” (Psalm 73:23, 26)
Over and over throughout my life I’ve seen that whatever the circumstances may look like, whatever I’ve done (or not done), whatever decisions I’ve made, passions I’ve pursued, opportunities I’ve seized or ignored, or successes or failures I’ve had… God has been there calling me his own, holding my hand.
My whole identity centers around the fact that I still belong to Him; this blog exists so that women can come here and find a place where they belong, too.
Motherhood, family, faith, life-in-general can be hard. There are no medals given out at the end of a long stretch of difficulty. Rarely is there applause. Often we labor quietly and without much recognition. And you know what? I think that’s okay to an extent.
But I also think we would drown if we didn’t have one another to gain strength and encouragement from, because it’s just that hard down here in the trenches.
We need a tribe—a community—of fellow pilgrims to walk the journey with us, to hold our hand, to tell us that we belong – to one another and to Him. Although some of those live next door, I’ve found some of my closest friends and allies now live across time zones and oceans. (Aren’t we lucky to live in the digital age?)
My hope is that this blog is a place where we can figuratively “hold hands” for the journey – when we feel like we’re sailing through with flying colors as superwoman and when we are gasping for breath and calling out for a lifeline. As we support and cheer on one another we’ll take courage from each others’ vulnerability and strength, creativity and wisdom, and even each others’ mistakes.
As He holds our hand, so we can hold one another’s. We all belong… it’s just that sometimes we need reminding. That’s what this blog exists for.
