Motherhood

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. A blog I read yesterday reminded me of how grateful I am to have these kiddos in my life. Motherhood is not easy. It is hard. To completely give yourself to another without any expectation of returned favor, to worry about how to best shape your children for this life, what experiences to give them and what experiences you hope they never have to live through in this life, to pray for the salvation of their soul and pray that God would answer your prayer not knowing if he will or not, I could go on and on. Motherhood is difficult to say the least, but I wouldn't trade this for the world. Motherhood has taught me so much about life and love, but most of all it has taught me about the love of Christ. He has seen me through some of the most difficult days of my life. I think of when Neal was in the hospital, he was around 2yrs old and we didn't know if he'd make it or not (he had an infection in his blood stream and even the Dr. assigned to the case was reluctant to give us hope), but God saw us all through it and made us stronger for it. When I was carrying Baylee I was "wrapped around the axle" about having a little girl. It brought up so many issues for me. How would I protect her, how could I teach her to fix her hair, how could I prepare her for her own motherhood? Then she came and they put her in my arms and all my troubles melted away and I fell in love with this tiny creature wrapped in pink. And I heard God speak to me and say, "she is just a baby, she just needs your love". When I found out I was pregnant with Brennan we were not in a good place to have another baby and I wondered what in the world was God thinking. And then I had such trouble carrying him. My body almost fell apart under the pressure of another baby. All during that time God taught me how to rely on him for strength b/c I had none of my own. Once again when Brennan was born and was placed in NICU for the first few days I questioned God. He reminded me once more that his ways are not my ways and that I should trust him no matter what. I knew he meant me no harm, but only good whatever may come. I thank God for his grace that has enabled me to be a mother to these children. These are some of my favorite "Mother" quotes:

-Anyone who thinks that the art of conversation is dead should try and put a child to bed.....Robert Gallagher

-Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother......Oprah Winfrey

-Life affords to greater responsibility , no greater privilege than raising the next generation......C. Everett Kopp

-There is no substitute for a mother......Anonymous

-Live your life so that when your children think of fairness and integrity they think of you.....H. Jackson Brown

-Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother......Lin Yutang

-Mothers are the pivot on which the family spins....Pam Brown

-She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to the children....."she has kept none for herself"...grumbled the Sergeant. "Because she is not hungry", said a soldier. "No, it is because she is a mother", said the Sergeant..............Victor Hugo

-Bringing a child home is the greatest act of hope there is..........Louise Hart

-There was never a great man who did not have a great mother...........Olive Schreiner

-Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and you weep with them. You long to comfort all who are desolate.......Charlotte Gray