However these young and lovely ladies did not come to warn me against the pitfalls of Satan... but to give me advice and encouragement for birth and motherhood.
It started out with a few labor stories and advice about getting babies on a schedule and feeding tips. But the ladies from my church are deeply spiritual women, and many are excellent mothers... they began to share some of the advice straight from their hearts. And like many other times in my life when I have been in the presence of such spiritual giants I felt glad that God has surrounded me with so many incredible people who lift me up and strengthen me.
I would type out some of the things that they said, however I think that they were so powerful because they were things that spoke directly to me, and seemed things God would have wanted me to hear. Yet I will share with you this poem that was paraphrased by the women who threw the shower.... perhaps some of you mothers have heard it before.
Babies Don't Keep
-By Ruth Hamilton
Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockaby, lullaby loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby, lullaby loo.
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
3 comments:
I like that poem! Thanks for posting it. I'm glad I was able to attend your shower.
Haha, that is exactly the image I think of when I type about the Church Ladies...
As for advice and schedules, take mine, it's the best: prepare to be gobsmacked and to have your trash kicked. Oh and that whole part about schedules is junk. Don't waste your time and save yourself the heartache of thinking you're a failure. The baby will do what it wants, when it wants, all the freakin' time!
As for putting down the dust pan, that's great, but remember the dishes eventually need to be done and the clothes washed, because nudity is looked down upon in polite society. :)
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