It is a sunny beautiful day here in Phoenix Arizona, as I write this first post on my new website and blog. My former blog Precious Jewels Mamma is still sweet to me as I highly enjoyed the past seasons of writing. If you would have told me 20 years ago about the life I would be living 2023 I wouldn't have believed you. My current life still surprises me, my every day containing many God stories that I could not even have begun to imagine.
To provide a little bit of an introduction and perhaps update I thought I would share a bit about my current context: 1. I LIVE IN THE DESERT I am Scandinavian, I am an immigrant, I am Faroese, and I never thought I would live in the United States, never mind the desert. The weather, the climate, and the culture here is radically different to where I grew up, and what rings deep in my soul. When I immigrated to Canada at the age of 11, learning to speak English for the first time, I did not think I would add another country to my citizenship list. Yet the desert is where I am and I love it here! 2. I AM THE MAMMA TO NINE JEWELS Since a little girl I've dreamed of holding roles outside of the home, as I wanted to change some of the stereotypes and expected roles of women. Within this heart posture I had no desire to have more than two kids, and potentially even no kids. My current reality is so far outside of what I envisioned for myself, I would have ran in the opposite direction had you told me. I am married to my best friend for 26 years and TOGETHER we are the incredibly blessed and proud parents of 9 precious jewels, and 1 adorable grandson. Seven of our precious jewels joined our family through adoption, from the USA, Ghana and China, and the other two through biological birth. The truth is my life looks nothing like I planned, yet I love my life. 3. I LOVE THE HUMANITY IN ALL OF US Although my education and ministry and professional experience has schooled me about special needs, trauma, brain based approaches, developmental needs, mental health and mental illness - it has not come close to what I have learned being the mamma to our precious jewels. All of our jewels have trauma stories, each one of our adopted jewels has a trauma history, and many have varying needs. This used to scare me about adoption, now it doesn't. Although at times incredibly hard, to the point of weeping and not being able to function without Jesus, I have come to realize the beauty found in our brokenness and our humanity. I have to come to embrace being okay when things are not okay. I have come to see the brilliance in imperfection. I have come to love the humanity in all of us. 4. I GENUINELY CARE ABOUT PEOPLE As a teenager I dreamed of stepping into the brokenness of humanity. Mother Teresa was my hero and deep in my spirit was a longing to help people. For the past 26 + years I have worked with children and their families from hard places. I could tell so many stories as I have worked in shelters, groups homes, the inner city, 6 different schools, in-home through court mandated programs, done home studies for foster and adoptive families, and so much more. Currently I work one day a week in my dream job as a School Counselor in a beautiful diverse community. I've loved the many roles I have found myself in, in Ontario, British Columbia, Washington, New Jersey and Arizona - and I still do. I consider it an honor that a child or teenager, and their parents, would trust me enough to allow me to walk the journey with them. 5. I'M IN FULL-TIME CHURCH MINISTRY I'm not sure which one is still more surprising to me, number 2 or number 5. Yep, I'm in full-time church ministry. About a year ago I went on staff with a church, a global church, that is in about 30 different countries. That is a whole long story, a calling, that I with clarity sensed God lead me towards. I lead Global Healing and Unity, focused on race and ethnicity for Hillsong Church. I always said, "I will never work for a church." Although I've loved Jesus all of my life and always served in some type of church ministry and Christian ministry, probably both, I never envisioned being on staff with a church. So this, what I am currently doing still shocks me. And I love it. I love the church, I love Hillsong Church. It is my new dream job. 6. I'M WRITING Fifteen years ago or so I started blogging and six years ago I started writing and I am still writing. I've published a couple of children's books "Be Different and Be Kind" and "Hope" but have not been brave enough to release the book I finished several years ago for adults titled "Precious Jewels." I have two more children's books finished, and another book for adults titled "A Million Little Stories" that I hope to release in the next year or two. I now am brave, and find myself with a new level of courage and vulnerability that I haven't experienced before. What I believe now with a deeper level of passion and conviction is that GOD WRITES THE BEST STORIES, and so the heart posture of this blog is to tell these stories. My posts and stories will intersect the many topics I touched on and perhaps more. I will highlight FAITH, HEALING, and THRIVING as I believe this is God's divine design for ALL OF US!!! The picture I chose to post is a bit of an oldie. I choose it because it was taken soon after us moving to the desert. I also choose it because the preciousness that rang in my spirit about my jewels when they were little, is still my heart posture about the young adult and teens and pre-teens they are today. They are still precious jewels, entrusted to me by God. Thank you for reading my first blog post, that is sweet and special to me. Let's together see where this journey takes us.
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AuthorMaria is a mama to 9 precious jewels, 7 through adoption and 2 biologically born, many with varying health needs, special needs, and mental health needs. Maria has been married for 26 years to her best friend, who is also an adult adoptee. Maria is clinically licensed, and has an LASW, and is an MSW + a TBRI Practitioner, + has devoted the past 26 years to working with children + families from hard places. In 2022, Maria started working for Hillsong Church, leading Global Healing + Unity, while still working part-time as a counselor. Maria used to blog at Precious Jewels Mamma ArchivesCategories |