FBW: Interview with Jenna from Stop, Drop & Blog (Ms. April)

FBW stands for Featured Blogger of the Week. Each week we will feature one of our calendar ladies. Mondays will be a post written by the FBW and Wednesdays will be an interview of the FBW. If you want to know how you can be a part of the Blogger Body Calendar project, please click here.

Why did you decide to join the Blogger Body Calendar project?

I learned of the BBC last year (2011) and thought it was an amazing project. I knew that I wanted to be involved, so when I was asked this year, I said yes. That was before I know that our charity for 2012′s calendar was Violence UnSilenced. As a survivor, I am 100% in support of women who are trying to escape violence, to find a way to survive in the darkness that surrounds them. I want need women to realize that they are worth it. I think that is really half of the battle; getting them to see their worth.

What do you think a strong woman looks like?

She looks like you. And me. And your mom. And your cousin Sandy. She has short-long hair. She has a smile that is bright and a humor that can be dark. She is everyone. We’ve all survived something. I got out of a series of bad relationships. I survived an eating disorder, PPD, a miscarriage, and the loss associated with relinquishment. I know many other women who have survived many other things and we all look different. But we’re all so amazing.

What would other people say about your blog?

Well, I write multiple blogs. And people would say multiple things about the multiple blogs. My friend Dawn calls me a Trojan Horse because I’m all, “Hey, I’m just your average mommy blogger with a side of firefighter stuff, but, oh wait, ADOPTION IN YOUR FACE.” She has a point.

Describe your calendar photo in 140 characters or less.

You can rise up from the ashes with the flames still licking at your heels. You are strong. You are worth it. You will beat this fire.

Do you consider yourself successful at blogging? Why or why not?

I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing: Sharing my stories and helping others. When people contact me to tell me that I’ve helped them understand something better — whether that’s about being a birth parent or handling open adoption relationships or just trying to survive the muck of parenting two boys — that’s when I feel successful. Yes, writing for magazines is nice. Yes, having a professional blogging job is nice. But helping others? It gives some of my pain, some of my loss and some of my “OMG WTF” moments a bit more meaning. It doesn’t erase them, but it sure makes them tolerable.

When I’m not posing for kick-ass calendars, you can usually find me:

a) eating ice cream
b) eating ice cream while riding a bike
c) eating ice cream while playing with my iPhone
d) I’m lactose intolerant, don’t talk to me about ice cream

C. Although! I got a bicycle for my 30th birthday. I don’t think I can ride a bike, play with my iPhone and eat ice cream. In fact, I’m having to relearn how to ride a bike. Oh man.

Jenna blogs at Stop, Drop & Blog and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land. She has been blogging for ten years. She is a freelance writer and photographer living somewhere in Ohio with her firefighter be-mustached husband. She is an everyday mom to two little boys and a birth mom to an amazing Munchkin. Her photographer is Courtney Paris of Lousville Boudoir.