A Little Background

Whenever someone asks what got me thinking about starting The Potter’s Mold, I always ask whether they want the short answer or the long answer. The short answer is basically that it was something I’d thought about for years and just always thought the someone else would do. Then, after some major life changes, I realized that maybe I should be that someone. So, with the help and support of some dear friends, it was started.

I find the long answer much more special and just so full of God’s work in my life that it’s hard not to share but it’s also hard to write in just a few paragraphs so, here’s my chance. Hang on tight.

My name is Caitlin Hamoen. If you don’t know me personally, the first thing you should know about me is that I’m a Reformed Christian. I was raised in a Christian home, going to church, catechism classes, an independent Christian school that my parents sacrificed much for my siblings and I to be able to attend. The second thing you should know about me is that I’m a mid-thirties single woman. This might be a strange thing to write but keep going, it’s a big part of this story.

Many years ago, just after graduating my graphic communications program in college, and cringing while paying for shipping of some items from the US, it crossed my mind how there’s not much available in Canada in the way of Christian products. Whether that speaks to our culture, our government, or both is another post entirely but either way, it was something that crossed my mind, briefly. Almost immediately after I thought, “Ach, well, I’ve got enough on my plate, maybe someone else will do it.” Over the years, a few have popped up which is amazing, but there was one small online shop in particular that opened near my home in Edmonton called Wool & Flax (this shop comes up again in a few sentence so I think I should mention it).

It crossed my mind a few times over the years, but I always brushed it off because of other commitments and because I’m the furthest thing from a businesswoman. So, life went on. I stayed with my fulltime job for about 8 years before moving abroad to Scotland for two years. Those two years taught me more than I can ever put on paper and I’m so grateful for them but alas, my visa expired, I couldn’t renew and I headed back to Canada. A little before I moved back, Wool & Flax announced that they were closing. I was so sad to see them go and got in touch with them before they closed to see what it might take to start and run a business like that. We had a short conversation, I toyed with the idea again and then set it at the back of my mind to be revisited later if I had the time after settling in.

When I got back to Canada, I struggled hard to find my place again. My two years away had not only changed me but also changed everyone I knew here in Alberta. I didn’t know where I fit into the church family anymore, where I should put my efforts, what things were happening in church life that I could volunteer with. I’d dealt with these feelings before, and this is also when my singleness really becomes a little more noticeable to me. Where do I fit? I’m not married so I don’t organically fit with those groups or studies, I’m not a mom so I don’t naturally fit with the building blocks crowd or the homeschool crowd, I work during the day, so I don’t have the chance to meet with friends for coffee when it works best for them. There’s a lot of inconveniences and not-easy fits to overcome. But I’ve also realized that just because it’s inconvenient, doesn’t mean you can’t make the effort to be part of their lives. It’s worth it (a blog post for another day cuz that’s something I could talk forever about).

During that time, our pastor had a series of sermons on the book of Genesis and in preaching on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he also talked a lot about what kind of legacy we’d leave our children. Now, as a single person, it would have been easy for me to ignore what he said because I don’t have kids so I can’t leave a legacy anyway. But the Spirit nudged me those Sunday’s and reminded me that these words were for me too. So, I started thinking about what kind of legacy I could leave the kids and families in my life. I love kids. I have nieces and nephews – both by blood and by friendship. They are big pieces of my life & my heart, so what kind of legacy can I leave them? They’re part of my family too – even more, we’re both part of God’s family. I don’t just want to be a part of their lives on the surface; I pray to be the ‘aunt’ that encourages them, is a godly influence on their lives, that can walk beside them as they grow and as we both head towards eternity together.

I am also a staunch believer in infant baptism. When a child is baptized, it’s not just parents that make vows to raise their children in the ways of the Lord. That child becomes a baptized member of the church which means I, also as a member, have the duty to help and support those parents, that child, and that family in any way I can. The baptism form we use in the church I attend speaks less on this but the church I attended in Scotland had a specific part of the baptism service where the congregation was addressed and asked to confirm their vows to the children. It was beautiful.

With those two key things in mind and feeling very convicted that I’d been not using my time wisely in this regard, I began to pray about how I could do those things with the gifts God gave me. Then one day, I was chatting with a friend about how writing sermons was hard because she would either lose the notebook for something else during the week, or she would forget about it because it looked the same as all her other notebooks. She also mentioned on the side that it was hard to get her kids to focus because they liked to draw during church. My mind caught on those comments, I ran with it, and The Potter’s Mold was born.

To look back at all these different things that have come across my path – going to school for graphic design because “this is something I can do from home when I’m married”, the little Spirit nudges reminding me of this idea over the years, the Genesis sermon series, the move to Scotland where I was reminded that baptismal vows also include me as a single woman, and so many more things – and just see God at work in all of it is humbling. It’s really hard to put into words but I stand in awe of how He threads our lives for His glory even when we only see where we are right now.

My desire for this project is simply that – to create helpful and beautiful things for families and children in the church catholic that will encourage family worship, growth in and knowledge of God’s word and the doctrines of faith we hold so dear.