Introduction and Goals

by Jeri Carr

Hi! My name is Jeri. My wonderful husband and I have been married tor over ll years. I am a stay at home mom to three children. Our oldest child, a spirited daughter, will turn seven this month, and our middle child, a sensitive little guy, will turn four this month. Our sweet nursling, another daughter, is a year and a half old. We also have four crazy cats and have been pet-sitting a rabbit for my mom.

Our family lives in the wetter half of Washington state, though it hasn't been that wet lately--mostly just dreary grey skies. We have lots of evergreen trees that add great splashes of color, though, and two huge mountain ranges and an ocean nearby make this state a beautiful place to live.

I am the founder of an online support group at http://www.gentlemothering.com called "Gentle Christian Mothers" (GCM). Parenting in an instinctive, gentle way can bring much joy to mothers and their children, to families, and to God, and I hope through this newsletter GCM can reach more mothers and be an increased blessing to the precious mothers already part of GCM.

Articles in the Gentle Mothering (GM) newsletter will be supportive of a parenting lifestyle that is commonly known as "attachment parenting," which for many families means things like co-sleeping, breastfeeding on cue, and babywearing, but most importantly it encourages parents to listen to their children and to their instincts. Some articles will venture into the "natural parenting" category; that means, for instance, we welcome articles supportive of things such as cloth diapers, homebirth, and natural medicine.

Aritlces written with strong convictions and passion will be encouraged in GM, however, they need to be tempered with the realization that God leads us all differently and that what's best for one family may not be best for another family. The opinions of each author are not necessarily the opinions of others at GM; we do, though, stand in agreement with the GCM Statement of Beliefs. I encourage you to prayerfully consider the things shared in the GM newsletter and to take what you need and leave the rest.

The goals of this newsletter are as follows:

1) To encourage mothers to minister to their children heartily, as unto the Lord.

2) To help mothers learn to parent more gently.

3) To offer mothers information so they can make informed choices.

4) To strengthen and build mothers' confidence in their choices and in their ability to parent their children as God guides them.

5) To encourage mothers to love their children, their husbands, and, above all, to love our Lord God.

I hope you enjoy the newsletter. Please send me your thoughts at jeri@gentlemothering.com. I will publish them in the next newsletter.