my western nest

Seeking light with grace and joy.

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  • my story
  • my writings
    • sharing my heart
    • mom life
      • parenting after loss
    • all things pregnancy
  • you will not be bitter

    you will not be bitter

    Even when you see it coming, falling into a painful season of life is miserable. Muscles can’t grow unless they break. Flowers can’t grow without dirt. But despite how many black-and-white mugs we desperately grasp with sayings like this, filled with coffee in the morning and wine and whatever time it becomes acceptable, it doesn’t…

    Kristine Western

    August 29, 2020
    my writings, parenting after loss, sharing my heart
  • pandemic motherhood: more leggings, more grace

    pandemic motherhood: more leggings, more grace

    This is for my fellow social media mamas: remember how we all argued a few years ago about how leggings may or may not be pants? For the record, I was on the side of “leggings are pants,” and I never left. They cover my legs, and they look like pants to me.  Cue 2020, when…

    Kristine Western

    July 2, 2020
    mom life
  • For Cooper: tomorrow is your due date

    For Cooper: tomorrow is your due date

    Tomorrow is your due date; I instinctively suspected we wouldn’t make it that far once we first got the news. It’s the date I recited before each weekly ultrasound, echoing with familiarity as I watched your fluid levels drop with each measurement. It’s the date I circled in my planner, back before we knew, which…

    Kristine Western

    October 25, 2019
    grief and loss, infant loss, my writings
    baby loss, faith, hope after loss, infant loss, life after loss, love after loss, mama, mama heart, mama life, mom, mom blog, motherhood, pregnancy after loss
  • always, things will be well.

    always, things will be well.

    In this waiting space, most of my thoughts don’t end with a conclusion. I have started so many hope-laced fragments that have lacked an ending, but not direction.  Each night as I settle in, I find myself so far from where I start. Some days, nothing can kill my hope, and others, I fall asleep…

    Kristine Western

    September 25, 2019
    my writings, self-care / self-love, sharing my heart
    faith, heart, high-risk pregnancy, in the waiting, infant loss, life after loss, love, love after loss, mama
  • waiting for Cooper: our on-time God

    waiting for Cooper: our on-time God

    About a week before Cooper was born, something caught my eye from my typical daytime TV lineup. I work from home, and so I keep the TV on for background noise while the girls are in daycare. As a mom, it’s hard for me to focus when a house is too quiet. As I worked,…

    Kristine Western

    September 8, 2019
    faith, my writings
  • it’s not you, it’s me: living in a high-risk pregnancy

    it’s not you, it’s me: living in a high-risk pregnancy

    To the well-meaning stranger who asks when my baby is due: there is a reason I avert my eyes.  I instinctively touch the head of my 2-year-old as you ask the age gap. You remark how full my hands will be, and I hope you are right; full hands is the goal. But just in…

    Kristine Western

    August 26, 2019
    grief and loss, my writings, pregnancy, sharing my heart
    baby loss, baby western, high-risk pregnancy, hope after loss, infant loss, life after loss, pregnancy, pregnancy after loss, pregnant, prenatal, rainbow baby
  • i am not brave

    i am not brave

    I am not brave, not by myself.  I didn’t choose this. I do this because I have to.   There is so much I don’t know, but I do know that everything always works for good. His good is not in earthly terms.  I know impossible things happen. I also know impossible good doesn’t always…

    Kristine Western

    June 24, 2019
    faith, grief and loss, parenting after loss, sharing my heart
    baby loss, faith, grief, hope after loss, infant loss, life after loss, love after loss, pregnancy, pregnancy after loss, recovery
  • when words fail

    when words fail

    It is June, somehow. I feel like I am poking my head out of a warped cavity of time, realizing what has passed by. Enough emotions to fill years, since Easter of 2019, my world has been shifting sharply. A surprise pregnancy in February left me open and vulnerable in a way I had not…

    Kristine Western

    June 14, 2019
    faith, grief and loss, sharing my heart
    deep waters, faith, grateful, gratitude, grief, life after loss, live, love after loss, mom, mom blog, mom life, rainbow baby, real life, recovery, struggle
  • the irony of the fun run

    the irony of the fun run

    Have you ever found yourself recognizing the absurdity of a situation in real-time? It’s like when you wish someone in the elevator a “Happy Monday!”, but even more specific than that. This may or may not be a purely hypothetical illustration. Let’s say you are 36 weeks pregnant, it’s a hot July morning, and you…

    Kristine Western

    May 23, 2019
    mom life
    family, life with kids, mama life, mom, mom blog, mom life, moments matter, real life, run, runchat, running, travel
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