I am so tickled, blessed, humbled and honored to be interviewed by Sue McRoberts, author of The Lifter of My Head: How God Sustained Me During Postpartum Depression. Its a great book and I highly recommend it. Its been wonderful getting to know Sue as a sister in Christ, a sister in PPD ministry, and as a friend. And maybe one of these days I’ll actually get to hug her in person!!! 
The Interview: Read all about Tara Mock!
Hi, Ladies!
Please check this post at Katherine Stone’s blog Postpartum Progress on how you can help this important bill get passed in the Senate. Your help is needed now! There are a lot of rumors and false information out there about this bill, when in fact it is intended to help not hurt. Please read about the facts on Katherine’s blog. She also has super easy links for how to contact your senators and get your voice heard.
http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com/weblog/2008/04/mothers-act-los.html
Sue McRoberts, has (with 2 other accomplished women) launched a new blog to minister to new mommies and I can tell you it has blessed me already! Sue wrote The Lifter of My Head, the first Christian book about postpartum depression that I know of and which I have written about on this blog already. Anyhow, this new blog is called Totally New Moms. Check it out! Enjoy! ~Tara
I’m so excited!
WomanAlive is a Christian Woman’s magazine published in England, equivalent to Today’s Christian Woman here in the United States. Back in the fall, my name was given to Joanne Appleton by Kim at Parenting After Infertility for an interview and Ms. Appleton subsequently did an interview and wrote my story for WomanAlive about my journey through PPD. Well, in the mail today I received the February issue of WomanAlive and there on page 22 is the story and it is AMAZING. Ms. Appleton did an amazing job and I hope everyone will be able to see it! I’m hoping it may be accessible online at some point. The website for the magazine itself is www.womanalive.co.uk.
Praise God for the word getting out! Although it was a bit disconcerting to see a full page picture of myself when I opened, I got used to it and am SO excited about the entire article. Ms. Appleton is very talented and it was a pleasure working with her! Thank you, Joanne!
Death of Mom and Newborn Son in Alabama
The sadness and pain in my heart at reading this story just cannot be formed into words. They are literally choked in my throat along with the tears. This is why I have a passion to help moms with newborns, those moms who are hurting. This is why I walk up to complete strangers with new babies and give them my card and ask how they are doing. This is why I share my story over and over again, sharing personal details with complete strangers – so they know they are not alone! They can get through this. It doesn’t have to end this way!
My heart screams for her and this baby, cries for her, I know the pain she was in, felt the desperation she felt… And now the pain her husband and family are in…I have no words.
This is why I do what I do.
So that this will not happen again. So that instead of death, the hope of survival will be shared. Because I survived.
I’ve been there. Maybe it wasn’t a gun. Maybe it was scissors. But I survived. Praise God, I survived.
Note: I’m consolodating several blog posts into one here as I am transferring posts “by hand.” Ugh.
In the same week, Sue was interviewed for a local radio station on a program called New Day with Pam Lundell. You can find the link for that program here and I’ll update this post when I have a link for the actual podcast. And even more exciting – Out of the Valley Ministries, Inc. was linked there! Woohoo!! Praise God! Many thanks to Sue and the team at New Day for that wonderful surprise!
http://postpartumprogress.typepad.com/weblog/2006/05/christianbased_.html
*sigh* Ok, so this is my second attempt at posting this. The original post was eaten by the computer when the computer unexpectedly lost its connection just as hit “publish.” Really, what are the chances? I will attempt to rewrite it in its original form now…
Hi, ladies! I wanted to let you about a great new faith-based website/blog called Life After Baby for a support group that meets in Michigan. I have really enjoyed getting to know Jenna via email and have also been reading this blog and what a great resource! She shares vividly and honestly from her heart while sharing encouragements, ideas, and resources. She was also so sweet to talk about Out of the Valley Ministries in this post. Thanks so much, Jenna! For those of you in this area of Michigan, I think you have a great resource in your midst. I know that I wish I lived closer! Check it out, ladies!
This weekend I was incredibly privileged and humbled to be able to share my testimony with the ladies of New Vision Fellowship in Dublin, Georgia. What a great church! The Ladies’ Brunch was such a great event – the door prizes were numerous and wonderful, the food was phenomenal, and the fellowship even better. Southern hearts are so big and it was so evident in this church. And praise God for they are bustin’ at the seams! I’ll be so excited to hear how God continues to work in this church.
I was blessed and touched by all of the ladies that shared their hearts with me afterwards – if any of you read this, know that I will not forget you! God loves you more than you know and He WILL get you through your dark valley, whatever valley it may be.
In Him,
Tara
Hello, everyone! I’ve added a page to the OVM, Inc. website about Planning and Prevention of postpartum mood disorders. At the moment, its quite basic and still under contruction so bear with me while its fine-tuned. If you have any suggestions, certainly feel free to email those to me. I’ll be adding many more links and more specific lists as well.
The women’s retreat in St. Louis for Hannah’s Prayer Ministries was excellent! Kathe Wunnenburg was the speaker for retreat and she is an incredible lady. I highly recommend her if any of you are looking for a speaker for a women’s retreat. I’ll have to find the link for her website and list it here. In my session, we talked about 10 Myths, Lies and Questions About Postpartum Mood Disorders and Christianity. I’ll try to learn something new here and attach it to this post. 
Tomorrow evening, I am headed to Dublin, Georgia with my baby girl to share my story at the Ladies Brunch of New Vision Fellowship, where my former pastor and his wife now serve. I’m really excited about this trip! I cannot wait to see our friends and their kids, and I’m really looking forward to meeting all the ladies at New Vision.
Stay tuned for new features to the website – I am working on them, slowly but surely.
Blessings to all,
Tara