I'm so grateful to be sharing with you today this little project I've been working on for a few months now. Today is the official launch of Mama to Mama: Connecting Families Through the Gift of Handmade. You can find the website at www.mamatomama.org.
I enjoy so very much coming here each day and sharing a bit about my life in these pages. I love writing about the small joys of parenting and life in the everyday, the beauty of the natural world around us, the community of crafters and mothers that surround us. Yes, of course, there is plenty of challenge and struggle too. But for the most part, my life - and quite possibly yours - is full of abundance, when held next to the sharply constrasting realities of many other mothers in the world. Mothers living lives where opportunity is next to nonexistent, where violence agains women is prevalant, and where the future for their children is bleak.
This is on my mind often. It's something I struggle with as I try to make sense of the world for myself and my children. It's something I try to be mindful of as I go about my days, as I think about the ways and places I spend my money, time, and energy - my life, and my craft. I'm guessing - as we share so much in common, really - that you share this thought with me. Since the release of The Creative Family, I've been overwhelmed by a continuing thread of email questions all around the subject of craftivism (which I wrote a bit about in the book), the concept of using craft for social action, as crafters and as families. So many of you are writing to me asking for more specific information on this - what you can do, where you can go, how to get involved.
Well...I've been thinking about that too, and the result is Mama to Mama. I've created Mama to Mama as a space in which we can gather and share information about how our families can connect through handmade action. Ways to use our crafting energy to create a little bit of good in the world, beyond our front door, beyond our families and out into the worldwide community of mothers. Mothers who all want to keep our children safe, most of all. I'm not suggesting that making a simple hat can change the world in an instant, nor that it's all we should be doing, but it's baby steps, friends. Baby steps and little moments that we do have the opportunity to make a little bit better for someone else.
Like anything that has just begun, I'm not entirely sure where this will take us, but I'm excited to let it go, see it unfold and spread with your help. As I was beginning to think about this many months ago, I was contacted by a dear old friend -a role model to me in my own mothering - who works with the Maine-Cap Haitien health partnership, Konbit Sante. She invited me to take part in the Safe Motherhood Project to aid birthing women and babies in northern Haiti. As I listened to her - with my own belly growing, and the beauty and abundance of the season and our days surrounding me, and this idea growing - the answer was a resounding 'yes'.
You can read more about the specifics of the Caps to Cap-Haitien Project on the new Mama to Mama website, (and I'll share a bit here as it moves forward). And then, I hope you'll join me in the simple act of creating a newborn cap this season. We truly have here a well of blessings and abundance to share with one another, and I'm so pleased to invite you along in this journey.
many blessings & thanks to you,
Amanda
