Carry The Future
If there is one thing every mother remembers, it is the moment that beautiful title was given to us. It could have been after years of waiting, at the culmination of a long and difficult pregnancy, or the fairly routine end of an easy one. Maybe it was in the comfort of a nice hospital or on the floor of a refugee tent in Lebanon. Or perhaps it was at the door of an orphanage in Uganda, or at the courthouse in downtown Chicago. But that moment, the one when a child finds their momma’s eyes for the very first time? It’s magic. It’s a moment that transcends all of the cultural, economic, political and religious barriers society has constructed around us. In that precious second, everything else stops -- when a momma looks down and silently promises to love her baby with her whole heart for her whole life -- it is the moment that teaches us our very first word in the universal language of motherhood.
Coffee + Crumbs exists to celebrate all that unites us as mothers, because our work in this role is sacred. It is marked by indescribable joys and unexpected difficulties; it is weaved with grace, laughter, and crazy amounts of love, while still marred with pain, anxiety, and often heart-wrenching decisions. This space (and the writers that work to steward it well) strives to include, not divide. We care deeply about honoring the many pieces of motherhood with all of its beautiful tension. We welcome each paradox the journey brings us and do our best to navigate them with our words, before humbly offering those words to you as a way of saying “Yes, me too.” Because despite our different methods, our wide-range of beliefs, and our many unique experiences, we believe that the language of motherhood unites us all in the most meaningful way, beginning with that promise to love with our whole heart.
As we celebrate the holiday season this year, Coffee + Crumbs is partnering with Carry the Future, a group committed to serving refugees traveling toward asylum by providing a baby carrier for their youngest ones to safely travel in. Our fellow mommas around the world are experiencing a kind of desperation unimaginable to so many of us. They have been forced from their homes under a looming fear, the worst and hardest of all emotions to carry as a mother. All that they knew in the world and all that was safe for their precious babies is now gone. We can barely imagine the burden, the terror, the fear they carry daily.
Right now, these families are making the long and dangerous journey towards an unknown future. Their children are growing heavier in their weary arms and clinging to their tired backs as they walk the many, many miles toward the hope of something better. Each one of the mothers on that journey made the same promise we did when they saw their child's eyes for the first time, and they are truly living it out with inspiring bravery in this moment.
Today, we are asking you to do something to help. It’s simple, but it is meaningful.
From now to December 25th, we are raising funds for Carry The Future. When you make a donation, you will receive this beautiful Be Brave printable by Sarah Little. Hang it in your home or set it on your desk as a reminder of the millions of mommas around the world living out this calling of motherhood with you. It takes bravery to be a mother no matter where we are, but right now, we can honor the extraordinary amount of bravery our refugee sisters are displaying for their babies, and really, for all of us. We can provide them with something much safer than tattered blankets to carry the little hands and feet they love so much. Funds are also used to provide relief packages with baby food, diapers and wipes, hand sanitizers, waterproof blankets and other essentials for the long and arduous walk in front of them.
Friends, let’s lock arms and do what we can. And every time we look at the words “be brave", let’s think of the beautiful beginning that unites mothers in all corners of the world, with all colors of skin, all practices and cultures: that promise to love with our whole heart for our whole life.
Donate and get your "Be Brave" printable here.
Written by Katie Blackburn on behalf of the Coffee + Crumbs team.