To Each of My Children on Mother’s Day

You are my children, the ones that call me Mom. The ones that I carried for nine months each, sacrificing my own comfort for your survival. I am the first one to know about your existence, second only to God. I am the one who told your Daddy about you. I am the one who felt your first movement within me and I am the first to hold you after delivery. I have been with you from the very beginning and I will continue to be beside you watching you grow, helping you become your own little selves. It is all because of you that I am now a mom and it’s all because of your presence that I am the person I am today.

You teach me something about myself every day. You teach me how to be more selfless, more patient, more understanding. You teach me what is means to sacrifice, what it means to die to myself, what it means to have a mother’s heart. You teach me how to love unconditionally.

You teach me how to not stress about the crumbs on the floor or the cycles of laundry. You teach me how to make it through church on Sunday and how to make long car rides bearable for little ones. You teach me how to change thousands of diapers and clean-up spills and potty accidents endless times a week. You teach me how to survive on less sleep, how to keep a household running, how to keep serving when I don’t have the strength to make it to day’s end.

You teach me how to multiply task and how it doesn’t always go very well. You teach me how to grocery shop and figure out what ingredients I need for a new recipe while juggling a hungry toddler and a restless three-year-old. You teach me how to break up fights between siblings while not burning dinner.  I learn how to baby proof the house and how to be on the lookout for the trouble you may get into, or the places you might get hurt.

Because of you, I discover new ways to draw a deep breath. I find new ways to pray while I work. I strategize on how to keep you entertained for longer periods of time. I become more creative with activities and distractions so that you stay out of trouble. You teach me how to find little moments of peace in the madness and to grab the five minutes I have between fights to make a necessary phone call. With you, I learn how to make the most of my time and realize that time goes by too fast. You remind me to savor the little moments before you grow up, as each year you blow out one more candle.

You teach me how to relinquish control, to let go and let God. You teach me how to pray more and stress less. You teach me how to be more humble and less embarrassed when we are late to a dinner, or when I have to take you out of the store screaming, or when you are running in circles around restaurant tables.  You teach me to be ok with the mess, to muscle through calmly when you aren’t acting the part of quiet, perfect, obedient angels. You teach me to forgo good first impressions, to prepare for frustrating days when nothing goes as I could have hoped, to not mind that we are not always the picture-perfect family.

You have opened up a whole new circle of friends for me. I am so grateful to have other parents who are going through the same stage of life as me, and it’s all because of you. You have opened up a new realm of activities for me that are not present at any other stage of life. The play dates, the children’s museum, the trick or treating, the children’s zoo, the kiddy pool, the merry-go-round at the fair.

You have reminded me of what is it like to play, to imagine, to speak without reserve, to be excited about rainbows and mud puddles and playgrounds. With you, I once again see with the eyes of a child. You make holidays magical and laughter contagious. And when you have closed your sweet little eyes for the night,  you make my sleep that much sweeter and my night time break that much more relaxing.

You make my heart swell up with pride everytime you listen well or share without being asked. You astound me when you sing a full song with the right tune and lyrics or draw the first letter of your name without anyone teaching you. You melt me everytime you say “I love you Mom” or want to snuggle just because. You show me what cute and crazy look like all jumbled up in natural curls.

You have made me finally appreciate my own mother and all she has done and still does for me. Until one becomes a mother, one can’t fully understand her own mother’s sacrifices.

You have allowed me to see my husband, your Daddy, in a new light. As I watch him cuddle you, love you, teach you, melt at your touch, I am thankful to have such a man by my side to help me raise you. You make me realize what a blessing it is to have someone like him to grow with and learn with as we navigate this journey of parenthood in all its difficult beautiful messy fulfillment.  I fall in love with him all over again whenever I see him falling in love with each of you.

You make everything that I used to take for granted, a blessing. Because of you,  all the girlish dreams of being a mother have become true and real, in a different way than I imagined but in a better way than I could have dreamed. You bring reality to my motherhood fantasies. You bring completion to our family.

“No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. After all, you’re the only one who knows the sound of my heart from the inside.” – Kristen Proby

Love your Momma

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” Philippians 4:8.