Belinda, Josh and Jai welcome baby Maya

Dear Jai and Maya,
What blessed parents we are to have you both as part of our family. Two beautiful little souls, weaving your own journeys and intertwining with ours. Challenging us along the way, showing us love beyond depths we could have ever imagined, and teaching us to see the beauty in ourselves that created you.  Thank you. When you look into each others eyes, and stick out your cheeky tongues, we know you will always be ok as you have each other. How very special you are. We love you.
Love Mum and Dad xx

Family, and children, are such a blessing.

For us, the decision to be parents and the journey that follows afterwards, is one that we look upon with great love, responsibility and honour. We take joy in simple time spent together; telling silly stories, tending to our vegie patch, making a present for a friend, baking a cake, seeing who can make the craziest face, or collecting flowers from the garden to brighten up our meal table. 

Our home is full of beautiful handmade things that have been created with and alongside our children so that they can appreciate the love, time, skill and work that is required to produce something to use or play with. Being involved in this process helps develop a sense of responsibility in caring for their belongings and in recognizing the value of even the smallest things. It also fosters a wonderful sense of creativity when children realize that they can create almost anything with some raw materials from nature or around the house. It is beautiful to watch Jai pick up a gumnut outside and say mum we could make a hat for one of my gnomes out of this. Creating is also a wonderful, meditative pastime for us as parents, and that alone fosters a gentle energy around the home. As an adult, I had forgotten about my creative side. When Jai came into our family, his presence reminded me of the simple joys of creating, and I have since had a craft project (or three!) in the making. Thank you Jai xx 

We are proud that both our children have been birthed at home. In preparation for Maya’s birth I asked close family and friends to support me by contributing to some traditional a blessingway offerings (a blessingway is an old Native American ceremony that celebrates a womens passage into motherhood). Women (and my boys) designed a prayer flag to be displayed in my birth space, and each gave a bead/s that I strung together and wore as a birthing necklace whilst waiting for Maya to be born, during the birth, and in the time afterwards. Mayas prayer flags and birthing necklace were a wonderful reminder to me of the strength and support of my network, and I lovingly drew on the energy of these around the time of Maya’s birth.

Welcome Maya; We are so excited to meet you and cant wait to spend lots of time with you on our family journey. Watch out for your brother’ cheeky tongue 😉 xx

Belinda and Josh

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