Mother's Day

(this is our only fam picture...from 2 months ago)

I love Mother's Day and especially now that I'm a mother. This week I've thought a LOT about what kind of mother I want to be vs. what kind of mother I am. I feel like lately I've been going through the motions but not really making life what it could be. My own mother has been such a great example to me and exemplifies the qualities I wish I had. If you've never met my mother you should definitely put her on your top 10 list of people to meet! You would never believe that she has 11 kids. She handles it all so well. Two specific memories from my childhood came to me this week. The first was probably when I was about 5 years old. My mom made this AWESOME chores chart. I bet if you ask any of my sisters who were born at that time, they would remember the flower pot chores chart. The concept was that each child had two flower pots filled with flowers. Each flower had a chore listed on it, after you did your chore you planted it in the other flower pot. So she made this chart out of poster board but it was so darling and for some reason it really motivated me to do my chores, I couldn't wait to move my flowers. I want so much to teach my children responsibility so tomorrow we're making a flower pot chores chart for FHE (Monday night is Family Home Evening for us). I purchased some really cute pink pots and plastic flowers--I'll have to post pictures when we're done.

(my mom)
The second story that occurred to me this week was when I was a teenager. We lived in central Texas in a TINY town. Our church was just a small congregation known as a branch. My mom served as the Relief Society (Women's Org.) President. She saw to the needs of all the women in our congregation. She would visit many of the ladies and just visit with them and she had me go along. My mom has the grace and elegance of Princess Diana and the heart of Mother Theresa. As we sat on the porch of one lady's home in the hot summer Texas sun (it was too filthy to go inside) and listened to her talk about her life...which was really sad, I remember the look on my mother's face. She was truly concerned about this lady and truly interested in the story that was being told. My mom has a great way of making you feel like the most important person in the world when you talk to her. That moment really changed me. I learned so many things by seeing her serve others; like how simple it is to just listen to others with real interest; like not judging people by their current circumstances; like not putting off serving others because you already have 11 kids yourself!

One last memory that was always a blessing to me was what happened when I got home from school. You can't imagine the chaos of 8 kids (there were usually 3 kids that were either not born or already moved out at all times) coming in the door at 3:30 in the afternoon, all filled with stories of their day! My mom wasn't EVER hard to find. She would be waiting for us in the living room with a basket of laundry which she would fold as she asked us each about EVERY detail of our day. We couldn't wait to tell her about what we said, and then what he said, and then what we said, and then who looked at who....and once again she listened and was truly interested. She always had an "after school snack" ready and then it was off to homework before we could watch tv or play outside. She probably never thought how important that time was to our family. She could have been on the phone with a friend or running errands but instead, she always waited for us as if her day had been on hold until we returned...and THAT is the kind of mom I want to be.

Ohhhhh...one last story from today. I was asked to go into Primary for a special Mother's Day Sharing Time. There were 5 or 6 mothers who participated. We each shared a little information about ourselves and then our kids were asked to come up for an activity. The moms were asked to line up and one-by-one each kid was blindfolded and went down the line of moms feeling their hands until they recognized which set belonged to their mother. Allie went first. She confidently shook her head no as she felt each set of hands until she came to mine. She felt my fingers and then grasped my hands and shook her head yes. I teared up. I can't explain how I felt...even now I'm crying! It was just a really beautiful validation that yes, my children know me.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!