graphic by Jennifer Tucker[/caption] So today wraps up the month of Motherhood stories. It has been an amazing journey filled with strong, vulnerable and beautiful stories from a great collection of women.

To all my guest writers, THANK YOU.

Thank you for sharing brave, true, unique stories that came straight from your heart. I have loved each and every one. My eyes welled up more times than I can count and have actually mapped out a road trip so I can come thank you all in person (My hubby probably won’t go for this, but it is a great idea in MY head). To all the readers, thank you. And if you visited Centering Down for the first time this month, please stick around! You can click on follow button up in top corner or like Centering Down on Facebook or follow DenaDHobbs on twitter to keep up with this blog and other encouraging, grace filled stories that I pass along.

If you missed a post, here is a brief table of contents so you can catch up:

5/4 Lisa Owen’s Motherhood Deconstructed. Lisa shares a tale of a young single mother learning her own value. 5/5 Amy Heinz’s The Kind of Mom I Am. Amy’s popular post shows how she is more than just a working mom or a stay at home mom. 5/6 Selena Whitley’s Spend Yourself. Selena chronicles what led her to become a foster mom. 5/7 Amy McGloughlin’s I Hate Mother’s Day. Amy wrestles with how to reconcile her grief over losing her mom with being present with her own children on Mother’s Day. 5/9 Anya Silver’s Motherhood and Mortality. Anya tells how mothering with a life threatening illness has brought her closer to God. 5/11 Tara Haussler’s Steel Magnolia. Tara takes us through the transformation and redemption of one of the trickiest relationships two women can have. 5/12 Amanda Vaughn’s Introverted Mommying. Amanda shares the struggles and coping mechanisms of how a strong introvert parents young twins. 5/13 Catherine Blount’s (Not A) Mom. Catherine tells of how she became the stepmom to her partner’s foster kids and how even though she is not the primary female in their life, she is still a mom. 5/14 Chistina Yother’s Hysterectomy at 29. Christina shares with us what it is like to lose you reproductive ability at a young age and how that affects her image of herself as a woman. 5/15 Catherine Meek’s On The Journey Together. Catherine recounts the night her African American son came out to her as gay. 5/16 Melissa Traver’s Learning to Breathe. Melissa describes the joys and confusion of raising a son with Aspergers. 5/17 Debra McCullough’s Long Distance Mom. Debra shares what it is like to parent grown children from coast to coast. 5/18 Lynda Jordan’s Coffee Fueled Motherhood. Lynda tells us how weekly coffee dates taught her to listen to her teenage daughter and transformed their relationship. 5/19 Desiree Townsend’s The Hilarious Moments of Motherhood . Desiree shares some of the more hilarious struggles of her motherhood journey, thus proving that some of our most frustrating moments are the ones we will laugh about later for years. 5/20 Jennifer Tucker’s Our Not-So-Perfect Family Story. Jennifer helps us remember that we can let go of our perfectionism as we parent. 5/21 Monica Stevens’ Words To My Daughter On How To Be Still. Monica paints a picture of how she is learning to slow down and enjoy the beautiful moments in her young daughter’s childhood. 5/22 Erika Marksbury’s The Personal is Political: Feminist Motherhing. Erika, the activist momma, tells how she is raising her children not only to value justice, but kindness. 5/24 Megan Maxwell-Bay’s The Coin. Megan shares one of her scariest moments as a mom and how it led to a unique relationship between her child and her patron saint, Benedict. 5/25 Karen Richardson’s An Adopted Daughter on Giving Birth. Karen chronicles what it was like to grow up as an adopted daughter and then have a biological son. 5/26 Melissa Belsh’s Faith and Fertility. Melissa tells what it was like to struggle with infertility as an Orthodox Jew. 5/27 Beth Ford Friend’s Mindful Mothering. Beth shows us what it can be like when we slow down, breathe and try and make it through the day with our kids one moment at a time. 5/28 Nikki MacMillan’s Reverend Mother. Nikki describes what it was like to be a preacher momma raising church babies. Hosting this series has been one of the best experiences in my brief blogging career. It has shown me not only are there a multitude of amazing moms out their raising their particular kids in the best way they themselves can, but it has shown me how beautiful and precious each of our stories really is. So read away friends. Laugh, Weep, Learn. And for all of you who are not mothers for whatever reason, thank you for being patient with this month.  We all raise each other in this world, and I am grateful for your strong nurturing spirit that raises me up too! And don’t forget to tell someone your beautiful story! Our lives are precious, embrace and celebrate your messy, gorgeous story today!]]>