By Judy Reed

Motherhood is one of the busiest and most stressful jobs a woman can have. Sometimes a mom just has to sit down and relax, and take five minutes for herself. Cedar Springs Post columnist and former editor Sarah Read knows that all too well, being the mother of Emma, 3, and Austin, 17 months. But when she “takes five” next Thursday, it will be something else entirely.

Sarah will appear Thursday, May 13, at 9 a.m., on the WZZM 13 show Take Five & Company, hosted by Catherine Behrendt, Stephanie Webb, and Tara Kuhnlein. She will appear during the “Moms Like Me” segment, with Sarah Cavanaugh, to discuss her column, “Mercy in Mamahood.”

“I’m excited,” she shared. “It will be fun.”

Sarah worked full-time for the Post from spring 2003 until fall 2006, first as a reporter, then as editor. She left just prior to the birth of her first child to become a stay-at-home mom. “It was definitely an adjustment, from going all the time and meeting new people, to just being at home with Sesame Street on all the time,” she said. “But I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

She continued to freelance for the Post occasionally after she left, and started writing her column about a year ago. “I had been thinking about how to incorporate writing into my life as a stay-at-home mom,” recalls Read. “After a particularly hard day, I got hit with a strong sense of faith, and I wrote about how God gets you through anything. I took a stab at writing about motherhood with humor and faith, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Her column appears monthly in the Cedar Springs Post, and she now has her own blog, http://mercyinmamahood.blogspot.com. Fans can also join her Facebook page.

Learn more about Sarah by reading this month’s Mercy in Mamahood column on page 10, and don’t forget to watch Take Five on Thursday at 9 a.m.