Applicant #48: Stephanie Judd

Stephanie Judd is a mom from Bothell.

My video application:

A bit about me:

Hi! My name is Stephanie and I am a stay-at-home, home schooling mom to a busy household of six; my husband of 10 years Dave, my teenage step-son Richard, my autistic step-son Leslie, my wild child Koa and my diva (and only daughter) Ariel. My days are filled with morning school studies, dance classes, TaeKwonDo classes, church activities, trying to keep my house in some semblance of “organized lived-in,” and getting as many checks on my “things to try and do today” list. In between those activities I try to make time to do the things I love: reading, “girl time”, selling candles and, more recently, hobby photography and writing on my blog “Chunky Dunking in a Skinny Dip World,” a witty view of being a plus-sized person. I would love the opportunity to be the Verity Mom because I see it as an amazing opportunity to combine the people I love with the things I love to do in a productive and creati ve way that will help me grow as a mom and person while helping others. Talk about an amazing multi-tasking opportunity!

My blog post:

The Motherhood Dream

What is motherhood to me? Some days it is an amazing job with many blessings and joys, while other days it feels like being on a survival reality TV show. “And on this weeks episode the mom is challenged to completing 5 errands in only 2 hours. She will face meltdowns, tantrums and the ticking clock! Can she get it done? Will she be able to raise the bar and survive the cut or will the kids knock her out of the competition? Watch and find out!”

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a mom. While my friends dreamt of jobs they loved, fame and fortune I dreamt of ….carpool. Yep, I wanted to be a “soccer mom” and the “cool mom.” The mom who always had a full cookie jar with home baked cookies and the house where everyone hung out. I pictured myself in a fun and stylish outfit, hair in a ponytail, happily driving from here to there and cheering in the crowd while my happy and slightly “cuter than the average” children made goals, cheered cheers, tumbled and danced among the top of their teams.

When my son was born I wasn’t thinking, “oh my precious child you are the beginning of all my dreams come true.” It was more of “did I eat,” “isn’t it someone else’s turn for diaper duty,” and “why did they send me home I have no idea what I am doing.” Fortunately time, trial and error, are great teachers and I eventually got the hang of the whole parenting thing, at least for the most. Time, trial and error continued to guide me when we added our daughter and when both my step sons moved into our home. Now that my children are older we are full swing in the “soccer mom” years and it is NOTHING like I dreamt it would be. Of course, I love to cheer them on as the TaeKwonDo and dance their hearts out, seeing them with my biased mommy eyes as ”adorable and just above average.“ However, I don’t think I even have a cookie jar, let alone any home baked cookies in my house. And the ponyt ail is the only part of the stylish outfit from my dreams that made it to reality.

I’ve learned that motherhood is a journey of growth and learning where you lead the way and are shown the way all at the same time. It isn’t always a fantasy dream come true with perfect outfits and perfect children and perfect dinners, but even in the ponytail styled, half a cleaned house, imperfect children reality it is a wild and fun ride that is definitely worth it.

Stephanie