Birmingham Mom Collective :: Introducing Arlene

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Hello, Amazing Moms of Birmingham! My name is Arlene Henderson, and I am a native of Tallassee. I was born in a small rural town (Redland) at home on a Friday, the 13th in June. I am a Gemini in every sense of the word. My parents should have known I would make life interesting for them. LOL! 

I am the Founder of Hear My Cry LLC and Director of the Non-Profit Organization Hear My Cry Sisterhood. My focus is women empowerment. I specialize in helping women learn how to become an asset to themselves and not just to everyone connected to them. I am a certified life coach, author, and motivational speaker. 

I’m married to Roderick and we have one daughter, Ariel.

I love traveling with friends, Alabama football, and serving at my church.

Birmingham

My family and I have called Alabaster home for the last six years. Before purchasing a home in Alabaster, we lived in Hoover for six years. I love everything that Birmingham has to offer. The downtown social life, the parks, the business networking, the great restaurants, and the cute little boutiques are hidden gems. 

Birmingham is a great place to be a mom. There are a lot of connections and support for moms from all walks of life. I have learned a lot from general conversations with other moms that help me explore my daughter’s opportunities. The support from other moms willing to open up and share the good and bad of motherhood helped me become a better mom.

Mom

I am mom to Ariel Henderson. She is a Class of 2020 graduate from Thompson High School. Ariel is one of the sweetest people I have ever known. She is so thoughtful and genuinely cares about the well-being of everyone she meets. Ariel is nothing like I was at her age, and I so thank God for that. If she didn’t look just like me, I would think the hospital made a huge mistake. 

Honestly, I didn’t want to be a mom. I was happy being able to do whatever I wanted to do and not have the responsibilities of being a mom. It happened, my husband and I got married in August 2001, and I found out I was pregnant in November 2001. This news was not a part of my plan at all. LOL. But God always has a way of giving us what we need, right when we need it.

Ariel changed our lives in more ways than we ever thought a child could. She taught us to be kind, to be more giving, to be more patient, and how to love unconditionally. She made us better people by becoming her parents. 

The thing I love most about motherhood is sharing a forever bond with my daughter. She is a Daddy’s Girl, but we share a bond that is so special. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without her in it. 

The most challenging thing about Motherhood for me is not protecting her from all of the world’s bad things. It’s challenging to know she has to go and make mistakes and experience life in her way. 

Collective

I’m so excited to be a part of Birmingham Mom Collective to share my motherhood journey to help other moms journey well down this path. Being a mother has been my most challenging and most rewarding job ever. 

The unique perspective I will share with other moms is parenting a special needs child that doesn’t necessarily look like what most people imagine when they hear the words “special needs.” I hope to help the moms parenting special needs children to do it so that they allow room for this in their homes. I want to help remove the limitations that society puts on what we should expect from our special babies. God created them to be our unique connection to him.