Traveling Journals
Dear Momma,
I am so excited to tell you about traveling or shared journaling!
When I was at a parent teacher conference years ago, my husband and I were meeting with our daughter’s second grade teacher. We spoke about our daughter, how she was doing as a second grader, how she was growing academically, and so on. As our parent teacher conference was coming to an end, I asked her about what things she was glad that she did with her daughter as she was growing up. (Her daughter had graduated from school at this point.)
If I’m going to be honest with you, one of the greatest takeaways from this letter I hope you carry with you, is to continue having conversations with other mom’s about motherhood. I’m not just talking about having conversations around the busy schedules that come from raising a family, but the talking about things that have eternal impact and value.
Ask questions to momma’s who have been there and done that & what advice they have for you living in this season of motherhood now.
Back to the parent teacher conference…
I asked my daughter’s teacher, “what is a piece of advice you have for me or what’s something you believe is important for me to know as I currently have a 2nd grader, a 1st grader and a pre-k’er…?”
Without much hesitation, she shared how she and her daughter used to have a journal they shared together. She said that her daughter recently dug up and opened that journal between her and her mom and it brought so much laughter and joy from these pages between them from years ago. As I sat there and watched this mother in a reflective space, who had raised her daughter, I saw the smile beaming from her face. I saw the joy it brought remembering whatever was written in that journal was only for her, her daughter and God to know about even 20 years later.
After that meeting, I immediately had the plan of going to the store to purchase three beautifully decorated notebooks, of course on sale at Hobby Lobby! I picked them up and began writing in them. Once I got the notebooks started, I brought all three of my girls together and said, “Hey, these notebooks are each going to be between us and the purpose is to practice talking about anything together. You may have things you might or might not feel comfortable with talking about. If that’s the case, write about it to me. You may have questions you’re curious about. Ask them! But, there’s not an option to just not talk about things because this is a family who will continue to do our best to sit in Truth, God’s Truth, and we’re going to talk about things! We’ll talk about the good things, the not so good things, the messy things, the beautiful things. This is who we are and this is the household that you come from.”
So, we started traveling journals.
You might be wondering how these notebooks went, especially with a daughter in preschool. Well, they were amazing! With her, I would read what I’d write to her and she’d get so excited and run to her room to respond. Many times she responded with pictures at a young age and looking back at those now that she’s heading into upper elementary, it’s so cool to see how everything we do matters. It’s cool for our girls to see that what you say, matters AND by the way, it has always mattered.
How did it work? Well, I began by simply writing some questions down, and I’d leave the journal along with the pen on a nightstand or on their bed-someplace they would see. My daughter, at some point, would respond and then leave on my pillow or next to my bed. Sometimes, that journal was traveling everyday. Other times, it might be in one of our rooms for several days or even a week or two before we responded. If we didn’t have anything to say, we didn’t force it. Overtime, these notebooks would be filled with silly notes, important questions, things the girls would be navigating at that moment, and more.
We’ve gone through multiple notebooks over the years and as the notebooks fill up, I tuck them away so they can have them when they get older and do whatever they please with them. Maybe the girls will carry this on with their own children one day, and maybe they won’t. It’s up to them. But what a precious gift.
As my girls continued to grow older, my older two daughters began to ask me questions about things they had been hearing at school:
“Mom, I heard this at school. Is this true?”
“Mom, my friend said this.”
“This is what was said at the lunch table and I don’t know how I feel about it.”
As the years have passed on, I noticed that many of the questions were starting to be geared towards really important questions.
Now, I’m going to be honest momma. I was not quite ready for some of these questions, especially at the ripe ages of 3rd and 4th graders. So, my response to my ladies, at times, was that they were asking really, really important questions. I encouraged the girls they were doing the right thing by asking me because that’s who they should be asking and getting information from. I shared that I was going to answer every single one of the questions, maybe not on that particular day, but I promised I’d answer them when the time was right, which would be soon. So, I shared that I needed them to trust me and to keep asking questions.
As I began my praying, reading, and asking God how I could provide answers that would most glorify His Kingdom, I realized that really there will be two types of answers to their questions. I’m thankful the Holy Spirit placed on my heart that there will be answers from God and there will also be answers from the world (what humans say) and these will usually be two totally different answers.
During my preparation of having various conversations with my daughters, I began going through the process of:
What does God say vs. What does the world say?
So, I encourage you. Go ahead, momma. Go to your closest Hobby Lobby and purchase that adorable notebook that makes you think of your girl! Get some cute gel pens, too, because then she’ll really start writing! And don’t forget that when each notebook gets filled up, to tuck away that journal for a rainy day. When she’s in her 20’s, looking back and reflecting on all the ways you helped equip and empower her to become exactly who God created her to be, I think we will be smiling ear to ear remembering all that was ever told in that journal only to be known about by you, her, and our God.
Let’s turn our Eyes to Jesus because it’s all for His Glory.
In love,
Kassie Leigh