Creative Mountain Mama
Welcome to the Creative Mountain Mama podcast - for those that resonate with seeking a connection to the land, family, and a simpler way of life. We're talking about faith, motherhood, and slow country living. If you're up for real talk, genuine experiences, and finding inspiration in some of the most extraordinary places, this is for you!
Grab a metaphorical campfire seat and let's dig into the good stuff.
Creative Mountain Mama
Faith and Family Life with Pamela Jean Noble
Join us for the Season Two Finale of the Creative Mountain Mama Podcast as we talk about the joys and challenges of motherhood with Pamela Jean Noble. In this episode, Pamela opens up about her journey from the spotlight to embracing motherhood and family life. Together, we explore the balance between our career aspirations and the deep fulfillment that comes from raising a child. Get ready to be inspired in your faith and motherhood journey from someone who has been in your shoes.
We talk about personal growth, daily prayer, and the sacrifices we make to deeper our family connections. The Nobles have found strength and purpose in their faith, taking each decision with prayer and collaborating on the best possible choice for their family; something we can all aspire to! One these decisions was the decision to be a stay at home mom for a season and homeschooling. We talk about the challenges and rewards from seemingly small efforts each day that helps little ones to thrive intellectually and spiritually. As we wrap up this season before summer, we end on a heartfelt reflection of embracing life's changes with grace and determination, and the importance of leaving a legacy filled with love, faith, and meaningful experiences.
Looking ahead, Pamela shares her family's exciting plans for the future, from building their dream home on acres of land to launching a new parenting app, Mama Papa. This innovative resource aims to simplify parenting by providing a consolidated platform for family-friendly reviews and services.
Join us for our conversation about making life-altering decisions with intention and the courage to step out into faith. This episode is sure to inspire and resonate with anyone navigating the beautiful journey of motherhood.
Get early access to the Mama Papa App here.
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Hi everyone, welcome to the Creative Mountain Mama podcast. Today I am joined by Pamela she can be found at Pamela Jean Noble and she talks about family, health and faith. Thank you so much for joining me, Pamela.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I'm so excited to be here joining me.
Speaker 1:Pamela, thank you, I'm so excited to be here. You are a sweet mama with one on the way. Is there anything?
Speaker 2:that your son does. That is funny. Yeah, a lot. I think the latest one is so proof that your kids are always listening, because my husband and I have never called each other by our names since like first meeting. It's always been babe. And so now he'll think he's really funny and I'm like, hey, babe, and I'll ask him and I'm like, no, I'm your mom. And he thinks it's the funniest thing ever and he'll do it to my husband too.
Speaker 1:So can you tell me a little bit about your story and becoming a mama and your background?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I actually was an actress and model. I started acting at like a really young age and modeling when I was 20, was definitely not a Christian going to church every single week, going to church every single week. But, um, I'm grateful for the experiences and how it's shown me to be so grateful for the little things in life that I think many people just take for granted. Um, and yeah, I mean, I guess, to cut a long story short um, we, I was up for a TV show that would have been life changing and, uh, had a very sharp pain in my abdomen and to the point where I told my husband I was like we need to go to the emergency room, like I'm about to have emergency surgery. I don't know what's happening, but it's bad. Um, and I was in the emergency room for hours and finally a nurse came in and asked if I had the results of my P test and then told me I was pregnant and that was why I was having this super sharp pain, because I was pregnant and I had a cyst like a, you know, a cyst on my ovary. And so that's what was this like agonizing pain. Um, but in the instant that she told me that I was pregnant.
Speaker 2:I knew that the show that I had been casting for multiple casting rounds and then was like by the end of the production round was going to be out the door, like it was just no question, just the type of show it is Um, it was. You know you, we never had this conversation because we knew instantly we wanted to keep the baby. But like, let's pretend it was somebody else. It was like, well, you can keep the baby and you're not going to get this like show that you've been working on so hard, or you can get rid of the baby and be on the show and have it be life-changing. And we heard the heartbeat right then and there in the emergency room and it was game over for us. And ever since then I've been home with Aiden. Game over for us. And ever since then I've been home with Aiden. I don't I've had some things where I've like worked from home but basically stayed up with him every single day of life, and now we're homeschooling. So that's a very short, condensed answer to your question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like motherhood was the shift for you. Is there anything that you would say to new moms during that early motherhood period?
Speaker 2:I mean. So I always have said this from any time I've been on anything. I'm saying that my, like my DMs are always open for advice, you know support for moms, because I had aided during COVID and I felt like there was no support, like you know, and nobody left their houses, friends and family weren't coming over. So that was really hard for me to be equipped in this new role that like there's no manual for. So number one support, I think, is key, even if it's not from somebody that's like physically there, from you, even sometimes just hearing like having somebody validate you like I'm exhausted and you can say, yes, you're going to be exhausted and that's okay, but we just can't take it on the baby, whatever it may be, um, but I think hearing that validation that like you're not crazy or this is normal, or you're going through whatever your other mom goes through, um, I think that'd be number one. And then number two would be like don't rush it, it happens so quick and I think it's so like it.
Speaker 2:Obviously in our society hopefully not your podcast, but our society people want to get back to work.
Speaker 2:They want to get back to like doing their normal things and you're never going to get those moments back and I'm so grateful that I had Aiden during COVID and I had literally almost a year where you know there was nothing to do but like us as a family hang out, especially because we were in California and it was like really shut down.
Speaker 2:But I think, you know he's going to be four this year and I look back and I know that it's like the cliche thing of you know the the days are long but the years are short, but I don't know how it's been almost four years.
Speaker 2:So for any new mama, like, yes, the days are hard sometimes, you know it's not. I'm not going to say every day is going to be easy, but you're going to wish that you had that like newborn stage back and then that like walking stage back and all these different stages If you don't just like stop and take it in and just smile and laugh and, you know, just get through it with just being grateful. You know, not everybody even gets to have children. I know a really dear woman of mine that's in my life and they've been struggling for years and so I think sometimes you have to go once again, go down to those basics of gratefulness and, like you were blessed with a child and be grateful that you get to have that when there's other people who would beg to be in your position.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and you might have just spoken to it, but was there anything that you hung your hat on at the end of the day that helped you get through the long nights and up every two hours? And what was that one thing for you? And maybe it was gratitude.
Speaker 2:So I think the big thing is because everybody, you know, I think there's like judgy moms and then there's moms like do what works for you. And I think I've become that like to do what works for you mom. Um, I wouldn't say in the beginning it was gratitude for sure. I'm not going to try to like sit here and pretend like I'm some like angel. Um, my son, uh, breast fed every 45 minutes for almost the first like three months, and that was like throughout the night too. So I was a walking zombie. I don't know how I survived. And then it was still like every hour, every two hours, like it wasn't one of those things where, when I hear moms are like my kids slept through the night at like three weeks old, I'm like, don't talk to me, hear your story at all.
Speaker 2:Um, but I think I got to the point where it was just so often and I had, I was on, I was so sleep deprived that I um it was a very unfortunate for my husband, but I started sleeping on the couch with my son like on the boob, and then if he woke up and started crying, I would just switch to the other boob and go back to sleep and I felt safer for me because I had one side of like cushions that like made me feel like I'm not going to roll off, kind of like a bed, which I never did and he never did. But that was literally what got us through the first like eight months of his life, because if I wouldn't have done that, there's just no way. I was like a happier person once we had figured that out, because I just was so tired and I don't think anybody prepared me for that. You always hear like oh no, they started doing like three hour intervals and all these different things and that just never happened for us. So I think now, going into this, I'm prepared for the worst, which makes it easier, and that's what I always tell moms or like when people ask for advice parents ask for advice.
Speaker 2:I'm like I'm going to tell you the good, the bad and the ugly, because if you know all of it, you're going into it prepared. But if you only hear the like amazing stories of my child was perfect, then you're going to think something's wrong with you, and I think that was my thing. I would be like doom searching on Google for, like why I want my kids sleep or why am I not producing enough breast milk? And then you go down the spiral of stressing and all these different things, and he was just he's a skinny baby. He would eat and metabolize it and it'd be gone. So yeah, I think that would be the number one thing is, whatever works for you, as long as it's safe for you, it's safe for the baby. Then, like, trust your instinct, because that might be the way to get you through that stage.
Speaker 1:And I think that's super important. When I was a new mom, doom searching, I felt indebted to the ones that took the time to write the mommy blog and say, hey, I've been there. Hey, this is, you know, it's not abnormal, or I've had the exact same thing happen and, like you can make it through. Now you've already made it through. That season is very short. It doesn't seem like it in the moment and you have the ability to say I've done it, I've been there and I'm doing it again and I know I'm strong enough because I've been through those sleepless nights. So thank you for sharing that. As far as your story, what I love that you do is you say you know I was set up for this opportunity and God moved and you're moving into a new season. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the past three months we started homeschooling I should say we, I started home. I'm giving myself the credit this time. I started homeschooling Aiden. Um, I had obviously done acting and modeling and then when I had Aiden, it was just kind of one of those easy choices of I can't be on set for 15 hours a day, like that's just not going to work out. I'm not saying never, cause I just don't think that's ever fair to say. Maybe something comes along, that's like the perfect time age frame of my kids. But, um, when he was young it just didn't make sense to be away for that long and kind of not be involved in the day to day.
Speaker 2:Um, so I held some pretty big positions in corporations and had experience like that and had started a company with two other women who are moms and I just kind of had a moment where I think every company has moments where you have different choices to make, and kind of had a choice and I've always been that person that ever since I found our faith and our family has found our faith together, that I pray all the time. And so when people say, oh, god spoke to me, I'm like I pray all the time and I don't hear anything Like what am I doing wrong? You know once again. But I had this decision to make. But I had this decision to make and I remember so clearly. I was standing with my husband in the kitchen and I started crying and I hadn't cried at this point and my husband was like what's wrong? And I was like maybe God's just like I want you to focus on your children. And we didn't know. I was pregnant at the time and I said children I, we thought I was, but it wasn't like confirmed yet.
Speaker 2:Um, and then I just started crying harder. My husband's like what's wrong? You know like freaking out and I it like it just clicked and I just said God's giving me the words to say right now. And he's telling me like you're just not paying attention and I'm so grateful for that moment in the time. It was obviously like a really stinky situation.
Speaker 2:But ever since that moment I have had so many clear and I've realized like minus thoughts, like God speaks to me through thoughts Some people say dreams, some people say they're praying and it like just comes to them. And I've had so many moments since then where I'm like thinking something and I'm like, no, like this. Is it Like this? Is even in the transfer of the company, something happens and I'm like, no, I know exactly what's happening and behind the scenes and with other people, it's so odd and it's been spot on every time. Every time I have like this weird inclination. It's been spot on and so that is, I think, the coolest thing besides the homeschooling is um, I've learned how God speaks to me and it's right on.
Speaker 2:And then, um, yeah, the next day, pretty much after making this decision, I started, you know, asking other moms and getting the input and and finding things that would work for us, because he's only three. It's not even like he's missed school at this point. But yeah, and we've come into like a good rhythm of you know, some days we do an ABC, some days we learn what an eclipse is, when the eclipse was going on and just different things. And it's been fun to see him get so excited when he's when he's learned something, and you're like, oh, my goodness, good job, bud. You remember Um, and that's been really cool and I'm really excited that it's going to just continue on from here.
Speaker 2:And I know my husband is really happy because he has his own career, but I feel like, because I always had other things going on, he kind of always felt like he had to be home in case I needed something and so, looking back, I feel bad because you know he's not putting even himself as a priority to be the breadwinner, because he's worried. You know he's not being supportive husband and so that's been another like amazing changes. You know we had the talk and like, and you're going to be the provider, I'm going to be the stay at home. If an opportunity comes around for me, we can talk about it as a family, but that's what it's going to be and he's just thrived since we've had this conversation. So it's been so many cool things that have happened in the past three months and seeing the change in our family and and God truly has a plan for all of that so we're just trusting in him.
Speaker 1:So good and it's not even you know. Putting a blank label over this is the right thing to do. This is the wrong thing to do for your family. It's different for everyone, but the place you're moving from is moving from prayer, moving from making decisions together, and it just seems like a really wholesome place. Is there anything else on?
Speaker 2:the homeschooling side. That was a surprise that you didn't see coming. I think the like sitting down to learn three-year, so it's like sometimes it's five minutes. I mean sometimes I'm lucky if I can get 10 minutes. But I also have a boy, so I think it's very different for like girl moms out there, like when I say I have a boy, he is full boy, jumping off the couches, running around on a bike inside, like all the things. So I think that was for me. I'm sure at a different age there'll be a new like stage of learning, but for me that was the thing. It was like no, no, we're sitting down, we're going to finish, we're only doing one page.
Speaker 2:We just got to finish the page you know, but now I think he's in the rhythm so it's a lot easier. But in the beginning I think that was like the struggle. I was like man, how do people do this for like three hours? And it's like 15 kids. It doesn't even make sense to me. But that's probably why they say, like your kid could be like missing out on attention, because if they're not the one that's just sitting there nicely listening you know, then they're getting. I mean, my mom works at a preschool in California so I know they get like sent to this thing called green chair, which is like the bad chair and all these different things.
Speaker 2:So I think, seeing that, I'm like there's no way my kid would thrive in three hour or six. Some people do six hours, um, like preschool, because he's just not meant to sit that long. And my kid is smart too for his age Like we hear it all the time that his vocabulary and everything. So it's not one of those things I think is so proven now with homeschool Like you don't need to have a certain amount of time in a day dedicated to learning every day. If you do like short little spurts, they're going to be just as well off as the kid that's been sitting in school all day long. So I think that goes back to what we said about parenthood. It's like just trusting your instincts, like I know my son isn't behind, you know there might be his little niece can like count all these different things, I'm like, but she will sit still too. My son doesn't, you know. But my son can say a million more words than his niece. So there's all these like things of don't get in the trap of the spiral again, because you know every kid is different and you kind of have to go, I think, where they're going to excel and just create the plan that works for you.
Speaker 2:We're lucky enough that we're in a state that has no state guidelines like at all. Like all the way through high school. It doesn't make sense to me at all when I looked it up. But yeah, it's just. I think learn as you go and adapt and don't feel like you have to be on a schedule every day, because at the end of the day, that's what's amazing about homeschool is you can make up your schedule and you can change it on a day to day, and I think that's what's been. Amazing is, if he's having a slow morning, like this morning, we sat on the couch probably for an hour and just cuddled and it was like this is the life Like when people want to be like rushing off to work, I don't understand it or when I had a schedule full of calls, like I was missing out on these moments where my son just wanted to cuddle for an hour. So I think that's been another really good learning. I think I went way off your question.
Speaker 1:No, it's true, it's. It's something that you can't really structure, and maybe it's not meant to be, because boys are wiggly. I have a boy too. We're trying to sit down and do our ABCs and it's maybe happening on the back of his bike and he's putting the letters on the go. Do you have anywhere that you seek inspiration, and who are those women that inspire?
Speaker 2:you. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I have a couple of amazing moms that I've never even met on social media but when I even like announced this, they've been like the hugest supporters of me doing this and like cheer, practically like cheerleaders of me, like I'll post a video of me homeschooling Aiden on a story and they'll be like you're doing it, you're doing such a good job and I think that's like so, um, inspiring to me that these women are doing, you know, went before me. They're years ahead of me of doing this, but are just so kind to be that supportive. Um, and then one of my amazing friends that I actually met at church when we were still in California um, she has five and she homeschools and every time I look at her I'm like I don't know how you do it. You make it look so stinking easy, like I had one up until this point, and sometimes I'm like, how do people do this? And she has five and makes it look amazing. So she's probably one of my inspirations, because we both like try to cook everything from scratch and different things like that.
Speaker 2:So, um, that's been really cool that I'm not like even close to following in her footsteps, but the fact that we like met and have just these, I think, conversations that other moms wouldn't understand, like she posts something, bake something, and I'm like we're going to make that the next time I'm in California and same thing here and I don't know. I think there's just such a special thing. I think you lose friends in motherhood but you gain people that you had only dreamed of having in your life, and I think I definitely have a amazing group of inspiring women around me at this point.
Speaker 1:It goes back to what you were saying before about having the support system, or lack thereof, in COVID and then really digging into those relationships and really appreciating people that have gone before. I love that was so well said. On the hard days and their hard moments, many moments in one day. Is there any one verse that you lean on, or how do you lean a little bit more on your faith on those moments?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think with parenting I don't have like a specific verse I lean on. I think whenever I'm just having a moment, I just like pray. But I think in life, what has seems to come up over and over and over again, with things my husband's been through, I've been through, um, especially like the past five years, it seems like, uh, we've just like been burned over and 14. And what it comes down to is like just be still and be silent and God will defend you, and I think that's been spoken. So, once again, it's just, it comes up over and over. Like I can be on Instagram and it'll come up. So I feel like that's once again God speaking to me.
Speaker 2:But 10 years ago, like there's just no way, right, if that was, if this was me and I was in the same situation, I'd been like no, they're wrong, they did us wrong. We're going to tell everybody like they need to know and it's so wild what faith can do, because, like I go to sleep every night, like with everything that we've just been through over five years, like I, always, my husband and I will be in like deep conversations and we'll talk about it and we'll be like, when we go to sleep. We sleep just fine because we know we haven't burned anybody, we haven't frauded anybody, we haven't, you know, done anything financially to somebody. And yeah, it's like I think that gets us through because it's like we know we're good people. We don't need to prove it to anybody and we know we'll do for other people. So we don't need to be boasting about that or the volunteer stuff we do. We don't need to be putting it out there on social media just so that way, like we look like a better person.
Speaker 2:So I know it's completely off topic of parenthood, but I think it's a good verse for women especially to remember, because we're in the day and age of social media, where it's like it's so easy to just pop off a story or a post or things like that.
Speaker 2:And I think there's a time and a place. But if your heart is in the right intent, it's going to show eventually and just let God do his thing, trust his plan. Sometimes it's so hard in the moment to trust that everything is going to end out in the way it's supposed to. But I think it's shown more than ever in the past five years for us that if we wouldn't have gone through everything that we've gone through. Like I said, I don't think we'd be grateful people, we wouldn't be looking at moving into the middle of nowhere to have chickens and different things, and that's like the point of our life that we're at things and that's like the point of our life that we're at. But you know it's, it's really cool that like we met on a reality TV show and now we found faith and now we're just trying to have this simple life, build a family together, break generational curses of divorce and raise children that love God, you know.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I wasn't going to say anything, but I so wanted to talk about that. Can you tell me a little bit about your plans and what you guys are looking to do?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, um, we originally moved to the state we're in because we're helping to care my husband's grandma, um, and then, surprise, we're pregnant and we have no room maybe to have an extra room in this house. So, um, yeah, we really want to move and get like acres Like I mean, we're talking 20, 30, 40, 50 would be like ideal for us and um, and build a house from scratch. We did this one where my husband and I designed everything in this, like, when the contractor came, we said, like not him telling us like you're tearing this wall down, you're raising this up and all that stuff, and we love doing that. That's just something that we can see ourselves doing one day.
Speaker 2:We actually have an Instagram called the flipping Christians that we want to like do house flips with and make, you know, these beautiful memories for families with houses that they've dreamed of. But, yeah, so we would love to build a house, and that's obviously not going to be an overnight thing. So we've even talked of, like maybe we get an RV and we go and make memories for a couple of months on the road as a family, and I don't know. We're still kind of figuring everything out right now. There's no set plan, but I think the goal is to be able to, like grow our own vegetables, grow our own fruits, have cattle, have chickens, and then see where it takes us.
Speaker 1:Amazing.
Speaker 2:We're here for it see where it takes us. Amazing. We're here for it Any new ventures to leave our audience with? Well, there is something my husband and I are working with other people on and they've been like so amazing with me because I've said like motherhood is my priority, so we maybe talk once a month and I can get like little insights and stuff. But there's an app that is going to be coming out very, very soon called mama papa, and I'm really passionate about what they're doing because the whole idea is to be able to find kid friendly places that you can take your kids.
Speaker 2:And I don't know how everybody else is, but like when we first moved here, it was like where do I go and where do I? You know, where do I go? For somewhere that's going to be like appropriate or safe or whatever it may be. And then, even more so with traveling I don't I know some people it's like one vacation a year. That's kind of where we're at too. But we're going on like a baby moon with our son in August and we were looking up like kid friendly hotels and it was like fountain blue came up in Miami and I'm like this is not kid friendly. No one is taking their kids to fountain blue, um, so anyways, uh, the app is really cool because it gives where you can.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like combining Yelp with Expedia, with all these other different like things that are already out there, but there, but you want to be able to go to a restaurant and know that your kid is going to be treated with respect and that they're not going to be a nuisance there, and just different things.
Speaker 2:So parents can leave reviews, but then you can book travel, that if you want to go to a restaurant or, say, in a hotel or you know, book a vacation, then you can do it all on this app instead of going to Expedia Googling what it is and like kind of doing the back and forth. And so I'm really excited about it. I think that parents need this and they want to know what other parents are saying about things. And especially when you're a new parent and you, this is a whole new realm for you to be in. There's a stage for everything, so even parks that are safe and restaurants that are going to be a good atmosphere for your child, just different things like that. I think this is going to be something that we've been not knowing we're needing. But now that it's all going to be in one place, it's going to be like a game changer for parents. So I'm really excited that it's going to be launching soon.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, pamela, I really appreciate your time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for having me.
