Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Stacey Charbachi.
I have never actually met Stacey in person as she lives in Queensland with her hubby and 2 gorgeous children – I’ve seen pictures! Stacey has been an encouragement to me from afar. Stacey is a Christian woman who recently fought and won the toughest battle of her life – breast cancer.
Stacey wrote about the journey of discovery, treatment and recovery from breast cancer in her book, ‘Climbing Mountains’, which I read, loved and reviewed ‘HERE’. Stacey has a website if you’d like to order a copy of ‘Climbing Mountains’. http://www.climbingmountains.com.au/
I’m not going to ask Stacey too much about her battle with cancer as I would highly recommend you grab a copy of her book to read about that part of her journey for yourself. Today I’d like to focus on Stacey’s journey of motherhood.
Stacey, welcome to Moments for Mum!
• You probably did some ‘research’ about pregnancy/birth/babies before you had your children but once they arrived did anything about motherhood catch you off guard or shock you?
Yes! I knew as much as I could about parenting and being a Mum was all I ever wanted to be however feeling such Amazing Love for my baby was overwhelming. This love is indescribable and I won’t even try to capture it in words. I do recall one evening when I lay next to my brand new baby girl feeling so desperately worried about her, I wondered if she was breathing ok and I didn’t want to fall asleep because I wanted to watch her every minute. I called my dad that night and asked “Dad, when dose this worried feeling go away” I remember he said to me with a sigh behind his voice, “Stace, welcome to parenthood, the worry never goes away, it just gets bigger as they grow”. I knew at this point my life would never be the same again!
• We all aim to parent our children as best we can, but do you have any specific goals for your parenting or ‘hopes’ for your children?
I try my best, I’m not perfect but no one is. I set biblical boundaries and teach my children about God in every situation I can; like pointing out the beauty in creation and encouraging Christ like qualities. My only hope for my children is that they resist and recognise the worlds many deceits and grow into strong Godly man and women.
• You are a Christian, how does your faith impact/influence your parenting?
Being a Christian parent is not always easy! There are some things I do not accept or allow that their friends may have or be allowed to do (like watching certain TV shows or buying certain toys), however they understand that I love them, desire the best for them, and as a family aim to walk righteous before God.
•
Can you share with us your biggest fear when you were diagnosed with cancer?
Again, a feeling that is so intense it’s hard to describe unless you are faced with life and death yourself. I can say that the fear I had was never for me, it was a terrible fear of leaving my babies without their mummy. No one could ever love them like I could, I pleaded with God continuously (and still often do) to let me live so that I could carry on growing my children into adults.
• Now that you are in remission, do you live life any differently to the way you did before your diagnosis?
I don’t think cancer is one of things you ever really emotionally “recover” from. I am certainly not allowing it to depress me or overcome me with fear (although that took prayer and training) but I do take every opportunity I can to embrace life and the moments we share here on earth. I did not adopt any new strict eating regimes or any particular health plan, in fact I guess I’m a little complacent really but I figure my life is in God’s hands and I just do my best to eat well and preserve energy levels. I do not sweat the small stuff!
• I found your book, ‘Climbing Mountains’ challenging and life changing; why did you write about your experience with breast cancer?
I began to use writing as an outlet for emotions and continued when I realised I had so much to share. There was little literature available about young women (under 30) walking the road of breast cancer so I figured my story could help others in my situation. I also hope that the scriptures I included will encourage anyone facing a mountain of any type to hold on to Jesus, cherish life itself and “journey well”
• Do you have a favourite bible verse? Why is this verse important to you?
1 Peter 2: 4-5 “ Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (NKJV)
I guess there are many scriptures I could choose but this one for me sums up these facts: We are secure and significant to God despite how the world (sometimes even family and friends) view us to be and despite of our iniquities. We need not have done anything, or need to do anything for God’s love, and we just have to come! Broken and rejected, we just need to come to Him and be filled with His love, mercy and grace. Our life is merely a sacrifice for Him, to shine His glory and goodness to the people around us; to be strong and faithful to the living God through the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ who lives and reigns within us.
• Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
A prayer! May the women who read this blog today be blessed with a true sense of God’s presence in them and around them! In all their challenges and heartaches may they find peace in your hand upon them. May their homes be filled with your Spirit, their marriages be filled with your love, and their children be healthy and strong in The Lord; proclaiming His will for generations to come. May God be the head and the centre of your life’s now and always, In Jesus name I pray Amen.
Thanks for sharing with us Stacey.
Please pop back here tomorrow as I’ll be giving readers the opportunity to win a copy of Stacey’s story, ‘Climbing Mountains’
I used http://random.org/ to select my winning comment for me, it selected comment number 4 which was made by Kathryn who said, "Really enjoyed "The risky way home" so would love to read this one!"
Kathryn you will love A Design of Gold I promise!
I hope you'll stop by on Monday for my interview with breast cancer survivor, Stacey Charbachi. She is an inspiration and an encouragement, her story will change your life.
Blessings and Love,
Today it's my pleasure to introduce you to my friend, Amanda Hunt.
Amanda is a stay at home mummy living in Perth WA with her hubby and 2 gorgeous girls. She is a Christian woman passionate about missions, her family and all things creative.
Amanda writes a regular blog (Amanda’s Musings) at
http://blogs.oddsocks.net/ahunt/ where she shares a hodgepodge of fantastic things from motherhood, activity ideas, her thoughts on various issues as well as some of her amazing artwork and creative flair!
Amanda joins us today to share a little of her journey of motherhood so far.
Amanda, welcome to Moments for Mum!
* From reading your blog, I can see that you love being a mum; what do you enjoy most about motherhood?
It's very hard to pinpoint one thing I love about motherhood. I love spending each day with my girls, watching them learn, play and grow. I love doing all the everyday things like making them lunch and choosing out clothes. It's hard to remember life before kids sometimes!
* You probably did some ‘research’ about pregnancy/birth/babies before you had your children but once they arrived did anything about motherhood catch you off guard or shock you?
I got the usual amount of advice from all sorts of places (which I usually appreciated) but once my girls came along I think I was surprised at how far we can be stretched. Sleep deprivation is awful but I'm amazed that once its necessary for us to get up to our kids at night, we just do it. I don't think anyone told me quite how tired I would get. For some reason I was also expecting baby #2 to be exactly like baby #1. They are in fact quite opposite in almost every way. The way they sleep, eat, play, learn and talk are different as well as likes and dislikes. This completely surprised me.
* I’m sure you’ve had a few tough times since having your children? Can you share a really difficult ‘mummy moment’ with us and maybe what you learned from the experience?
The most difficult time for me would have to be when my child health nurse noticed that my second daughter's head was growing quite fast. She already had a large head and the nurse wanted me to have her checked immediately for Hydrocephalus (once known as water on the brain). I was told that worst case scenario would be that my child would have slowed development and learning as well as a shunt inserted which would be permanent. She told me all this on the Friday, doing her best not to panic me and we got a specialist appointment for the following Monday. That weekend I hardly ate anything. I hardly slept and I prayed and prayed that it would be nothing. By Sunday night I was convinced that she would have the shunt put in and our lives were about to change. The moment we walked into the specialists office and mentioned why we were there his words were 'wow, what a big head', followed by 'I can assure you its not that' (referring to the condition). He examined her and said that it was genetic. We had scans done anyway and they found nothing. She's fine and does not have the condition at all. This was very hard for me. I know I should have trusted God much more but I think my human Mummy instincts overpowered me at the time.
* We all aim to parent our children as best we can, but do you have any specific goals for your parenting or ‘hopes’ for your children?
I would like to see my girls come to know Jesus as their personal Saviour. This is the main thing I would hope for. I would also like to teach them to be kind, considerate, generous, hospitable and remember that God is in control.
* You are a Christian, how does your faith impact/influence your parenting?
Like many Christian parents I go by Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. I suppose it depends on what your interpretation of 'train' is. I believe this verse refers to training according to God's character. This includes teaching them to love God with all their heart, to love their friends and family. To respect those around them, especially authority and to obey their parents and God. So much more goes along with this but these are the basics.
I also find that I pray about things more in the 'shoot a prayer to Heaven' style as the day progresses.
* I know you are a busy mum, but what do you like to do in any spare time you have?
I don't really see my day in terms of spare time and scheduled time. I am a natural organiser so yes schedules suit me but I have taught myself to relax a bit and be more flexible. This means that we do a lot of creative things in amongst the boring household things. On my own I am an artist using all sorts of mediums such as paint, polymer clay, pen and ink etc... I also love to knit, sew, do decorative cooking and anything else that allows me to be creative.
* Do you have a favourite bible verse? Why is this verse important to you?
Growing up Galatians 6:9-10 was important to me. It reads:
'Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.'
This verse taught me to press on with the right attitude, not a self righteous one but one of looking out for other people first. I need to be reminded of this a lot. It always reminds me to help out where I can. The preceding verses talk about reaping what we sow and I believe that this is a lifelong attitude we need to work on.
* Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
As a Mum I feel that its important to keep checks on myself daily. For me it means watching my reactions, my attitudes to people and circumstances and thinking before speaking. It also means a constant battle in my own mind to watch how I think and what I say to myself in my head because God can hear that too. I feel all this is important because we cannot expect to genuinely hand down these things to our kids if we don't at least make big attempts to keep tabs on them ourselves.
Amanda has kindly agreed to write a guest post for Moments for Mum so pop by again tomorrow for her thoughts, "Trusting God, my non-new years resolution".
See you then,
