There are many things friends and family can do to help new parents.  This blog post is a resource list that I will add to and is a work in progress right now. I am preparing to go on the podcast, "Healthy Minds, Healthy Souls" right now and wanted to get this article I find really helpful up as I will reference it.  Hope this will help anyone who needs it!

 14 ways to *really* help a new mom
By Diana Spalding, CNM
​
www.mother.ly/14-ways-to-really-help-a-new-mom

I am so overjoyed to have A Sacred Beginning, our book, out in the world.  In the book we include  exercises and due to length and the difficulty of doing an exercise while reading about it, we came up with the idea to offer a podcast companion to the book. Nine of the book's exercises are there, read by Sasha or I. They can be used on their own and of course, with the book. Enjoy!

About a year ago I wrote a piece for the Orthodox Motherhood's "Chat with an Orthodox Author series." Then the pandemic hit and everything was delayed. The piece came out in November 2020. Since then a lot has changed, including the title of the book!  Our new title is, "A Sacred Beginning: Nurturing Your Body, Mind and Soul During Baby's First Forty Days."  To learn more about me and the book read below:

Read it below!
www.orthodoxmotherhood.com/chat-with-an-orthodox-author-sarah-katherine-of-forty-days-in-the-wilderness/?fbclid=IwAR1al5E2qh61N8XzLfsneFQ58Pz4kRVKBE8lMY42K4aFax67zuEQmDj0ktM 

Since submitting our book to the publisher I have a short reprieve from my single focus on one project. Writing the book over the last two years was wonderful, but restrictive, as I could never find as much time as I wanted to write or do anything else I'd like to do. So, until I get revisions, I have a little space!  Yes, I am doing some of the cleaning and organizing that was, ahem, missed in the past months as well as having time to READ for pleasure.  Here is a list of what I'm reading.
 

1.  One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Anne Voskamp. I loved this book. Voskamp's poetic style is lyrical, haunting, and all her own.  She details her own trauma and how it follows her in life, and affects her faith.  Through her search for God she comes to the knowledge that giving thanks is the start of a relationship with Him.  In her days of being a farmer’s wife, domestic life, worries, and raising kids she begins her thousand gifts list to detail the things for which she can give thanks to the Lord. She weaves her story through the deepening of her realizations and faith as she comes to see how true and deep gratitude, leads us to know the truth of God, to trust Him, to humble ourselves before Him, to become blessings for others and ultimately to be one with Him.
 
2. Orthodox Psychotherapy: The Science of the Fathers by Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos translated by Esther Williams.  A friend at church lent me this book. As a psychotherapist I am intrigued, but will clarify this isn't a book for professional therapists. This book (as I've understood in my early reading) is really about understanding faith and our soul, and how we heal our soul through God.
 
3. Puppies for Dummies by Sarah Hodgson. This was recommended by the same friend as the above and is very clear and helpful manual while we wait for more personal help and puppy classes.  Neither my husband nor I have trained a dog and we picked a very energetic and hard working breed that will do best with good training, especially with our young children.  So far we are very surprised and pleased that we've managed to teach our pup to paw at a bell on the door when he wants to go out.  
 
4. How to be your dog's best friend by the Monks of New Skete.  We read how to raise a puppy by the Monks prior to bringing our dog home. It was very helpful and offered a lot of good guidance as well as education about dogs and puppies.  I think it helped us get off to a great start and I want to follow it up with more detailed information as our puppy grows.
 
5. The Sea Keeper's Daughter by Lisa Wingate (listening to audiobook.) I like Wingate's writing and especially enjoy her stories rooted in historical fiction.  Before We Were Yours and The Book of Lost Friends were both heartbreaking well-told tales.  The Sea Keeper's Daughter is not as intense or emotionally charged as the others I've read, but I welcome something a bit lighter to listen to while walking/folding laundry.