Mother's Day

This morning I woke up to my sweet children bringing my breakfast in bed.  My first thought was, "oh, just let me sleep!" but then my second thought was "Wow! They made breakfast and I didn't hear anything breaking!"  They are thoughtful kids, and I am thankful for them and thankful to be their mom.

So this is another Mother's Day that I am far from my own mother, and unfortunately she won't be with either of my brothers, either.  I hope she knows how much she is loved and appreciated.  I didn't fully appreciate her until I had children of my own and I realized what an unglamorous, sacrificial job it is to be a mother.

My parents say that I was a sweet baby, but even sweet babies have their crazy intense moments and I am thankful my mom put up with me and my brothers, and cared for us so well.  She taught me so many things, like compassion for others and how to make cornbread dressing, and tried to teach me other things that I wish I'd paid more attention to (like sewing!). 

The above picture is a bit old (look how little Lukey is!) but all my recent pictures are on the desktop computer, which sadly crashed yesterday.  Anyway...my mom has such a caring heart and loves us - her children and grandchildren - and demonstrates that love despite the thousands of miles between us. She is wonderful about remembering our birthdays and sending a "party in a box" for the kids.  She hates to fly, but she has conquered that fear and several times has made the long journey over to see us.  Next week she and my dad will be visiting, and we are so excited!

I love this picture, Mom being silly with her grandkids, and acting out a fantasy I know she's long had - to be a weather forecaster.  She loves weather - windchill factors, doppler 5 radar warnings, heat indexes, etc.  Just one of the quirky things about her that makes her my mom, and I love her for it!

 

 

This is the other mom in my life - my wonderful mother-in-law.  I'll never forget the first time I met Faye.  It was my senior year of high school and a group of my friends and I were kind of tired of being goody-two-shoes and we wanted to rebel a bit so we skipped school one afternoon.  Weren't we bad?  We thought so, anyway.  David was among this group, so after we fled the school grounds he suggested we go to his house.  

There was his mom, welcoming us in, offering us ice cream.  I remember thinking, "This lady must be pretty cool, to welcome in her son and his friends who are skipping school, and feed us!"  And over the years I came to learn that she is indeed a very cool lady, and a very godly woman who did an awesome job raising three sons and two daughters.  I hear horror stories about overbearing mothers-in-law and I am soooo thankful I don't have one!  Quite the contrary, she is so supportive and encouraging.  I love her!

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Natalie