A Christian Mama’s Winter Bucket List

Motherhood

Merry Christmas week!

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International Day of the Girl 2020

October 11, 2020
Motherhood

As a woman and mother to two girls, I believe that girls everywhere should be treated equally, empowered, and safe. This belief is deeply held, both for personal and biblical reasons. As such, I champion gender equality everyday and especially today, International Day of the Girl 2020. The theme for this day is “My voice,…

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My 30 Before 30 Gratitude Challenge

October 4, 2020
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So I turn 30 in about a month! I’ve always wanted to do some kind of challenge or bucket list to complete before the big 3-0, but each list or challenge just didn’t resonate with me. Taking stock of missed opportunities from my 20s or trying to finish unrealistic bucket list items just doesn’t fit…

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meloniebygrace

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meloniebygrace

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Feb 25

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This week, we celebrated 11 months with this baby girl!  She’s got 6 teeth now and is trying to say more words. So far she’s added “Papa,” “poo poo,” and “uh oh” to her vocab. Honor understands simple directives like no, give that to me, lay down, and come here.  Honor likes to be chased around the house while she walks as fast she can and squeals. She loves long walks around the house while you hold her hand. Honor spends her days trying to keep up with Raegan. I am filled with love beyond words when I watch my kids play and love on each other. I am the world’s happiest mama with my two girls. I’m so grateful to be their mama.  I’m also really grateful for our friends and family who have loved Honor from afar. We had Honor right at the beginning of this pandemic, so she hasn’t met a lot of our loved ones. Even still, it means the world to me that at least for now we can celebrate her milestones with our online community 🌷

This week, we celebrated 11 months with this baby girl!

She’s got 6 teeth now and is trying to say more words. So far she’s added “Papa,” “poo poo,” and “uh oh” to her vocab. Honor understands simple directives like no, give that to me, lay down, and come here.

Honor likes to be chased around the house while she walks as fast she can and squeals. She loves long walks around the house while you hold her hand. Honor spends her days trying to keep up with Raegan. I am filled with love beyond words when I watch my kids play and love on each other. I am the world’s happiest mama with my two girls. I’m so grateful to be their mama.

I’m also really grateful for our friends and family who have loved Honor from afar. We had Honor right at the beginning of this pandemic, so she hasn’t met a lot of our loved ones. Even still, it means the world to me that at least for now we can celebrate her milestones with our online community 🌷 ...

meloniebygrace

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Feb 20

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After Raegan heard me praying boldness over her and Honor, she asked me, “Mommy, what does ‘bold’ mean?”  What came to mind were people who have tough, outspoken personalities. I choked those thoughts back, because they’re inaccurate. Outspoken doesn’t always mean you are bold. Being loud doesn’t necessarily mean you are a leader.  Parents, particularly the mamas to little girls, are trying to navigate a world that is increasingly aggressive. As such, I see a big push to raise children to be loud and aggressive. I get it, especially after millennia of women, especially Black women, being told to hush up.  But there’s such a movement for leadership but little guidance on character.  Raegan is bold because she’s caring. She’s not one to boss people around (at least all the time). She’s collaborative. She invites you in and calls you friend. She doesn’t leave anyone behind. She defends her friends’ hearts. She’s just downright friendly, even when people aren’t friendly to her (even though that makes Mama wanna knuck and buck). She’s the kind of friend I wish I had, and wish I was, growing up. I know full well there’s a whole world out there who will take her kindness as weakness. But they don’t know that true leadership is built on good character.  My hope is that mamas to girls everywhere raise them to be bold. Whether a girl likes to take charge or just be friendly, like my little one, I hope we emphasize that character is what makes her bold and a leader. I don’t have to make Honor or Raegan into bossy girls if that’s not their personality, because bossiness doesn’t always mean bold, and loud doesn’t always make you a leader. Character matters ❤️

After Raegan heard me praying boldness over her and Honor, she asked me, “Mommy, what does ‘bold’ mean?”

What came to mind were people who have tough, outspoken personalities. I choked those thoughts back, because they’re inaccurate. Outspoken doesn’t always mean you are bold. Being loud doesn’t necessarily mean you are a leader.

Parents, particularly the mamas to little girls, are trying to navigate a world that is increasingly aggressive. As such, I see a big push to raise children to be loud and aggressive. I get it, especially after millennia of women, especially Black women, being told to hush up.

But there’s such a movement for leadership but little guidance on character.

Raegan is bold because she’s caring. She’s not one to boss people around (at least all the time). She’s collaborative. She invites you in and calls you friend. She doesn’t leave anyone behind. She defends her friends’ hearts. She’s just downright friendly, even when people aren’t friendly to her (even though that makes Mama wanna knuck and buck). She’s the kind of friend I wish I had, and wish I was, growing up. I know full well there’s a whole world out there who will take her kindness as weakness. But they don’t know that true leadership is built on good character.

My hope is that mamas to girls everywhere raise them to be bold. Whether a girl likes to take charge or just be friendly, like my little one, I hope we emphasize that character is what makes her bold and a leader. I don’t have to make Honor or Raegan into bossy girls if that’s not their personality, because bossiness doesn’t always mean bold, and loud doesn’t always make you a leader. Character matters ❤️ ...

meloniebygrace

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Feb 1

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🖤❤️ Happy first day of #BlackHistoryMonth! 🖤❤️  Things we don’t hear often enough: Black is beautiful. Black culture is deeply rich. Black history includes joy, creativity, and genius.  Celebrating our history so far, making history today, and raising history-makers is what I’m all about ✊🏾

🖤❤️ Happy first day of #BlackHistoryMonth! 🖤❤️

Things we don’t hear often enough: Black is beautiful. Black culture is deeply rich. Black history includes joy, creativity, and genius.

Celebrating our history so far, making history today, and raising history-makers is what I’m all about ✊🏾 ...

meloniebygrace

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Jan 20

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Walking into her incredible future like ✨  Honor Grace showing us what what it means to be a lady with style and grace 💗

Walking into her incredible future like ✨

Honor Grace showing us what what it means to be a lady with style and grace 💗 ...

meloniebygrace

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Jan 20

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My VP looks like me. Incredibly grateful for this historic day.

My VP looks like me. Incredibly grateful for this historic day. ...

meloniebygrace

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Jan 19

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Raegan’s emergency note she slid under my door. I wonder if this is the #WFH equivalent to me calling my mom’s job just to ask her for some fruit snacks. #MomminWhileLawyering

Raegan’s emergency note she slid under my door. I wonder if this is the #WFH equivalent to me calling my mom’s job just to ask her for some fruit snacks. #MomminWhileLawyering ...

meloniebygrace

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Jan 18

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#MLKDay2021. My hope and prayer is that today serves as a contemplative day. A day of repentance. A day of prayer. A day of honoring the entirety of Dr. King’s legacy, without cherry picked quotes and whitewashed words to soothe a conscience steeped in comfort. He was a man of faith, driven by the Gospel to shake this nation out of its sinful hypocrisy of racism and the treatment of the impoverished. I’m grateful for his work and have gladly devoted my life to furthering that Gospel-driven cause.

#MLKDay2021. My hope and prayer is that today serves as a contemplative day. A day of repentance. A day of prayer. A day of honoring the entirety of Dr. King’s legacy, without cherry picked quotes and whitewashed words to soothe a conscience steeped in comfort. He was a man of faith, driven by the Gospel to shake this nation out of its sinful hypocrisy of racism and the treatment of the impoverished. I’m grateful for his work and have gladly devoted my life to furthering that Gospel-driven cause. ...

meloniebygrace

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Jan 1

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Dare I say it? 2020 was good for my soul.  Have you ever been in a desert season? I just came out of one, one that was nearly 5 years long. So much happened that it nearly crushed me, and I felt that I almost lost my voice.  Yet, this year God restored everything back.  He gave me my love and my grief back.  He gave me a deeper love for people, for humanity. We are extraordinary. Our ability to adapt and thrive in the face of deep heartache and a whole pandemic is simply astounding. It’s hard to explain, but is a love only the Father could have given me to express to others.  He gave me my grief back. Yes, grief. My love for people causes me to grieve in a deeper way over our collective brokenness. Grieving replaces shock, and even anger, when people say and do things that just cannot be understood. It’s seeing the brokenness that causes selfish, harmful behavior, and seeing people as people, not as their problems.  God’s restoration and deepening of my faith have been my greatest gift this year. God didn’t stop there: he gave me the sweetest little baby girl this year. Provided supernaturally. Guided Josh and me in our new roles as landlords and now business owners, and blessing me with a new practice at an incredible new firm.  2020 was tough, but it was beautiful, too, if no other reason than God restored and grew faith! I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Dare I say it? 2020 was good for my soul.

Have you ever been in a desert season? I just came out of one, one that was nearly 5 years long. So much happened that it nearly crushed me, and I felt that I almost lost my voice.

Yet, this year God restored everything back.

He gave me my love and my grief back.

He gave me a deeper love for people, for humanity. We are extraordinary. Our ability to adapt and thrive in the face of deep heartache and a whole pandemic is simply astounding. It’s hard to explain, but is a love only the Father could have given me to express to others.

He gave me my grief back. Yes, grief. My love for people causes me to grieve in a deeper way over our collective brokenness. Grieving replaces shock, and even anger, when people say and do things that just cannot be understood. It’s seeing the brokenness that causes selfish, harmful behavior, and seeing people as people, not as their problems.

God’s restoration and deepening of my faith have been my greatest gift this year. God didn’t stop there: he gave me the sweetest little baby girl this year. Provided supernaturally. Guided Josh and me in our new roles as landlords and now business owners, and blessing me with a new practice at an incredible new firm.

2020 was tough, but it was beautiful, too, if no other reason than God restored and grew faith! I wish you all a Happy New Year! ...

meloniebygrace

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Dec 25

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Merry Christmas!!! Love, The Jordans!

Merry Christmas!!! Love, The Jordans! ...

meloniebygrace

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Dec 23

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Happy 9 months to Honor ❤️ She took her first steps, is waving hi/bye bye all the time, and is enjoying more and more foods. Honor loves to be “chased” and “chases” her sister all around — she squeals and laughs while toddling and crawling away. She loves to say “ha,” but still dislikes being told to be quiet. She’s earned the “mommy look” for throwing food, and has since refrained from doing that. All in all, she’s the been the best part of 2020 for our families. We can’t wait to celebrate her first Christmas❤️

Happy 9 months to Honor ❤️ She took her first steps, is waving hi/bye bye all the time, and is enjoying more and more foods. Honor loves to be “chased” and “chases” her sister all around — she squeals and laughs while toddling and crawling away. She loves to say “ha,” but still dislikes being told to be quiet. She’s earned the “mommy look” for throwing food, and has since refrained from doing that. All in all, she’s the been the best part of 2020 for our families. We can’t wait to celebrate her first Christmas❤️ ...

meloniebygrace

3,254

meloniebygrace

View

Feb 25

Open
This week, we celebrated 11 months with this baby girl!  She’s got 6 teeth now and is trying to say more words. So far she’s added “Papa,” “poo poo,” and “uh oh” to her vocab. Honor understands simple directives like no, give that to me, lay down, and come here.  Honor likes to be chased around the house while she walks as fast she can and squeals. She loves long walks around the house while you hold her hand. Honor spends her days trying to keep up with Raegan. I am filled with love beyond words when I watch my kids play and love on each other. I am the world’s happiest mama with my two girls. I’m so grateful to be their mama.  I’m also really grateful for our friends and family who have loved Honor from afar. We had Honor right at the beginning of this pandemic, so she hasn’t met a lot of our loved ones. Even still, it means the world to me that at least for now we can celebrate her milestones with our online community 🌷

This week, we celebrated 11 months with this baby girl!

She’s got 6 teeth now and is trying to say more words. So far she’s added “Papa,” “poo poo,” and “uh oh” to her vocab. Honor understands simple directives like no, give that to me, lay down, and come here.

Honor likes to be chased around the house while she walks as fast she can and squeals. She loves long walks around the house while you hold her hand. Honor spends her days trying to keep up with Raegan. I am filled with love beyond words when I watch my kids play and love on each other. I am the world’s happiest mama with my two girls. I’m so grateful to be their mama.

I’m also really grateful for our friends and family who have loved Honor from afar. We had Honor right at the beginning of this pandemic, so she hasn’t met a lot of our loved ones. Even still, it means the world to me that at least for now we can celebrate her milestones with our online community 🌷 ...

meloniebygrace

View

Feb 20

Open
After Raegan heard me praying boldness over her and Honor, she asked me, “Mommy, what does ‘bold’ mean?”  What came to mind were people who have tough, outspoken personalities. I choked those thoughts back, because they’re inaccurate. Outspoken doesn’t always mean you are bold. Being loud doesn’t necessarily mean you are a leader.  Parents, particularly the mamas to little girls, are trying to navigate a world that is increasingly aggressive. As such, I see a big push to raise children to be loud and aggressive. I get it, especially after millennia of women, especially Black women, being told to hush up.  But there’s such a movement for leadership but little guidance on character.  Raegan is bold because she’s caring. She’s not one to boss people around (at least all the time). She’s collaborative. She invites you in and calls you friend. She doesn’t leave anyone behind. She defends her friends’ hearts. She’s just downright friendly, even when people aren’t friendly to her (even though that makes Mama wanna knuck and buck). She’s the kind of friend I wish I had, and wish I was, growing up. I know full well there’s a whole world out there who will take her kindness as weakness. But they don’t know that true leadership is built on good character.  My hope is that mamas to girls everywhere raise them to be bold. Whether a girl likes to take charge or just be friendly, like my little one, I hope we emphasize that character is what makes her bold and a leader. I don’t have to make Honor or Raegan into bossy girls if that’s not their personality, because bossiness doesn’t always mean bold, and loud doesn’t always make you a leader. Character matters ❤️

After Raegan heard me praying boldness over her and Honor, she asked me, “Mommy, what does ‘bold’ mean?”

What came to mind were people who have tough, outspoken personalities. I choked those thoughts back, because they’re inaccurate. Outspoken doesn’t always mean you are bold. Being loud doesn’t necessarily mean you are a leader.

Parents, particularly the mamas to little girls, are trying to navigate a world that is increasingly aggressive. As such, I see a big push to raise children to be loud and aggressive. I get it, especially after millennia of women, especially Black women, being told to hush up.

But there’s such a movement for leadership but little guidance on character.

Raegan is bold because she’s caring. She’s not one to boss people around (at least all the time). She’s collaborative. She invites you in and calls you friend. She doesn’t leave anyone behind. She defends her friends’ hearts. She’s just downright friendly, even when people aren’t friendly to her (even though that makes Mama wanna knuck and buck). She’s the kind of friend I wish I had, and wish I was, growing up. I know full well there’s a whole world out there who will take her kindness as weakness. But they don’t know that true leadership is built on good character.

My hope is that mamas to girls everywhere raise them to be bold. Whether a girl likes to take charge or just be friendly, like my little one, I hope we emphasize that character is what makes her bold and a leader. I don’t have to make Honor or Raegan into bossy girls if that’s not their personality, because bossiness doesn’t always mean bold, and loud doesn’t always make you a leader. Character matters ❤️ ...