This has not been an easy decision and has been, in fact, one that I have wrestled with for quite a few months now.  But after prayer, consideration, discussion with church staff and trusted mentors, I believe it is time.  I do not know what His plans are at this point, but I know that this door is closing and I eagerly look forward to the next, whatever that may be.

Just in the past months I have witnessed God raise up several women in Christian PPD advocacy to minister to hurting moms from a Christian perspective through blogs, discussions, books, etc.  It is SO encouraging to me!  God is amazing in how He works and heals.   For myself, I have learned so much, been so blessed, and ultimately the healing that comes from ministering to others is beyond words.

I encourage all of  you to continue on and forward, living out 2 Corinthians 1:3-7:

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. ⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

The website will remain as is and maintained for now, as a static resource of sorts.  All blog posts will remain up, but I will no longer be posting any new blog posts unless they are from guest writers, and I will most likely put those as articles on the main site as well, anyhow.   You are welcome to contact me via email with any questions or heart concerns, I am still available in that way!

Off to cry some more tears…love you all!

God bless,

Tara

Today is the day.  The Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health is happening right now at Postpartum Progress.   I cannot wait to read the letters!  I haven’t been able to slow down enough today to do it so it’ll probably be until tonight or tomorrow before I can read all of them, but from what I have seen already – WOW!

The kick-off post is here:  Kick-off Post for Rally

My letter was posted this morning and you can read it here:  Tara Mock:  Letter to New Moms

Head over to Postpartum Progress to read more!  Send the link to all the new moms or pregnant moms you know!

I am so excited about what is coming up on Mother’s Day on Katherine Stone’s Postpartum Progress!  New moms, listen up!  This will be encouraging, inspiring, educational and worthwhile!  On Mother’s Day, Katherine is hosting the Mother’s Day Rally for Moms’ Mental Health where every hour on the hour for twenty-four hours, a letter by a different author will be posted – letters written to you - the new mom!

The authors come from all walks of life in the postpartum mood disorder world – survivors, experts, advocates, and all of the above.  We will write to share what we will on maternal mental health during pregnancy and postpartum.   I am super-excited to be a part of this amazing group of ladies who get to share their thoughts with you and I cannot wait to read what the others are writing as well.

From a personal perspective, I remember my first mother’s day being extremely bittersweet.  Probably more bitter than sweet as well.  I had looked forward to that day for a few years, I couldn’t wait to celebrate finally being a mom!  That day came and I was bitter.  I hated that I was sick, hated that I needed help to do basic things, hated that I couldn’t function like a “normal” mom.  It was sweet because, well, I was a mom.  I was, thankfully, getting to a point where I was starting to feel slowly better and I was loving my baby.  

It was also a very bitter day, that first Mother’s Day, because I encountered very direct rudeness about the ignorance of postpartum depression on Mother’s Day.  I know I have mentioned this before, but in case you did not know, I was buying (then) Brooke Shields’ new book “Down Came the Rain” and the cashier commented that she didn’t understand how anyone could be depressed after having a baby.

It felt like a slap in the face.  With a red, hot hand.

Talk about bitter.

Those memories still burn in my mind and I constantly work to create new ones and let those go.  The reason I tell you this is that because if this is your first Mother’s Day, you will have encouragement on the hour, every hour at Postpartum Progress.  Check in there and read again a new letter directed right to you.  You will see first-hand how many people care, how many people have been there, how many people know what you are going through, how many people know that this is real…I could go on and on.

So mark your calendars.  And head to Postpartum Progress.  You won’t regret it!

http://unexpectedblessing.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/sharing-the-journey-with-tara-mock/

I highly encourage you to check out her blog.  I love her transparent approach to writing about her family life as well as keeping us updated about PPMD related news.  She is a sweetheart!  And thank you, Lauren!

Then I transitioned to a newly formatted website using a different content management system that did not include forum software.  We finally got another one installed, but then it literally disappeared one day.  As in, you click on it and it was a white page.  From there, we have not had a chance to work on it.

I have been involved in ministry community forums before as a moderator and a board director and am quite familiar with the work involved and the time required.  As I have thought about all of this, including the lack of time to even get the forums working again, I have decided to discontinue that feature of this ministry.

If you are the type of woman who would thrive from getting support in a community forum atmostphere, check out today’s article at Sharing the Journey.  She is interviewing the founder of the Online PPD Support Group (secular) that is now quite active.  I, personally, am not involved there nor have I ever been, but because I was active on forums for quite a few years both as a member and as a leader/board member, I know they are very helpful and the ladies can be a great support when you are hurting.  You know you are not alone.

I find that I am best supporting and ministering to women right now through personal contact (email) and through the blog and maintaining the site and blog itself.  I am enjoying it very much!  However, my time online is limited, especially while my children are so young, so for now the forums as a feature of Out of the Valley Ministries are on hold until God leads me otherwise.

If you have thoughts on the subject and the need (or not)  for a faith-based online forum, please feel free to comment or email me!

What I’d Like For You to Know:  Surviving Postpartum Depression

I am excited to let you all know that the Out of the Valley Community Forums are back online after being offline for quite some time.  Unfortunately, I was unable to transfer any of the old posts and data to the new forums so we are starting anew.  I believe these new forums will be much easier to use.  They have already been remarkably easier to set up

If you are a former member, you will have to re-register.  Everyone will click on the link below and click “Register.”  Follow the instructions on the pages that follow.  You will receive an email indicating your registration.  From there, an administrator will have to approve your registration.  This is checked frequently, so you should receive another email within 12 hours at the most that your registration has been approved.  We take these extra security measures to keep the forums a safe and confidential place for our hurting moms.

*It appears that the second email indicating approval of registration may not be arriving in some inboxes.  I am working on that problem.  Please check back and log in to check your registration status.  My apologies for this inconvenience.  Please feel free to email me with any questions.  admin (at) outofthevalley (dot) org.  Thank you!

Guests are not permitted to view the forums, but I will provide an outline here in this article of the offered forums as the community grows.  For now, we have a “Welcome” forum and a “General Discussion” forum.  As with the last forums, I plan to add forums viewable to guests for churches, family members, and friends.

Click here to go to the Out of the Valley Community Forums.

I was refraining from writing the past few months because I knew that I would have to copy and paste posts and info by hand because of the lack of software to transfer posts from the specific blogging platform I was previously using to the one I am using now. 

*sigh*  Hindsight is 20/20 isn’t it??  Lessons learned the hard way. 

Most of the old posts are here, minus the comments, and some are re-titled and re-categorized.  I hope that will make it easier to search out posts to help when you just need something encouraging or you need a self-care idea, etc.

Please go check out the main site when you have a chance.  All the old info is there, just in a new place.  Hint:  Click on the “Color Chooser” on the very top right of your screen and have fun with the colors. 

Blessings!

Tara

My husband got the software installed on the server the other night, yesterday was spent with a migraine, today I’m moving content over.  Its still a little scary looking as I’m still on a bit of a learning curve with the administration of this software but I’m getting there.  No worries about current website – its up and running fine until the other one is ready to go.