Next to Angels

Happy Mother's Day! I love mother's day and not that the spoiling and recognition isn't great, but here's why. As I have become a mother, I have been given a greater appreciation for my mother along with all the others. Motherhood is self-less, hard, but more importantly, joyful. I have never known a love like this until I personally became a mother. I'm grateful to celebrate the role I have as a mother, which I know is greater than anything in this world and is essential to God's plan.

I am honored to be blessed with children.
I am a different person because of them. Better.
I love my own mother in a new way now that I have my own children to care for.
Stronger. More Appreciative.
I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for trusting me in raising these children He has blessed our life with.
Today is a day to be celebrated and gratitude fills my heart.

There is nothing of more importance to me. Nothing that brings me more joy and fullfillment. This I truly believe:

I heard this in one of the talks today in church. It was in a letter from the First Presidency.
“Motherhood,” they wrote, “is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.”




(Happy Birthday to my little sister, Erin)

Wrap your arms around me.

By all means my life is no exciting ride. It's pretty laid back and routine. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. (Except maybe to live on a little island in a small beach house some where per say in the Caribbean). I'm a dreamer and free spirit at heart and I'm glad I have husband who puts up with all the crazy ideas I come up with so often!! He lets me be me. He lets me dream. And most oftenly, encourages.

But, gratitude will forever keep me grounded. I am so blessed with health and strength to take care of the people I love most in my life. I am grateful for who I am and what God has blessed me with. There are so many things that can completely alter a life and I don't want to take the most important and small things for granted. My heart melts every time either one of my children wraps those little arms around my neck. I've said this before, but I love that they need me. "Mom, mama, or mommy is yelled to many times to count in one day.

But, I wouldn't have it any other way. They devour me and want to be with me every second. How can someone love me so much, but they do! I want to soak it all up while I can, because one day they'll out grow it. Thanks B for capturing a moment with Drake. Ava was sleeping. It doesn't happen to often with me in the same picture as them.






Ava loves getting shoes out of my closet to wear them around. She walks about as good as I do in them! That's why I usually stick with the flops :)

Sweet or...

conniving, but still cute. Here's how it went down last night:

Me tucking Drake in bed.

Drake: "Mom, if I pee the bed I have to take a shower, huh? I'll come ask you and say I wet the bed and I have to take a shower."

Me: "Drake we don't pee in our bed. If you need to go potty we use the toilet." Don't pee your pants, okay."

Drake: "Okay mama."

So, I say goodnight, and close the door. Not a minute later Drake opens the door crying. "Mom I think somethings wrong. I have pee all over me. I think I need to take a shower."

Me: Ahhh! (Wanting to scream, considering I just put new sheets on his bed literally right before I tucked him in.)

Oh Drake you are a tricky little one. No shower, I just wiped him off with a wet rag, put new jammies on, ripped the sheets off, and tucked him in once again. He wasn't very happy about it, but I don't think he'll be wetting the bed on purpose anymore. His plan obviously didn't work.

Somedays.

Why is it somedays you feel
inadequate as a...

a woman,
a mom,
a wife,
a friend,
a human?

What ever it may be.
Somedays your strength is gone and sadness flows in.

Somedays are blue.
Somedays you wish.
Somedays are content.
Somedays are more joyful.
Somedays are lonely.
Somedays you feel small.
Somedays inspired.
Somedays you crash.
Then you pick up the pieces.

I guess that's why it's so important to find joy in the small and simple things. On days like these I try to let Gratitude engulf my sorrow, because Gratitude is everything. Gratitude is joy. Gratitude is humbling. Gratitude is Godlike. So, today be Grateful.

Jesus and Quesadillas

Okay, I have to write this down so I don't forget it. We were eating dinner at my inlaws tonight and they have Greg Olsen's Last Supper hanging up on the wall in there. Randomly, Drake looks up at the painting and says, "Hey Mom, Jesus is eating Quesadillas." We just all bust up laughing. Taya, then looked at the picture and said, "Nope, those are pancakes." Drake, "yeah, yeah, Jesus likes pancakes and quesadillas."

If interested in Politics...

Trust me, I am not a very political person, but I care for where our country is headed. I believe that the only way our nation will ever succeed is to be "one nation under God." I am definitely ready for this election to be over. But, until it is, and if you are interested in a good read that I support then click HERE. Nicole has pretty much summed it up on how I feel about this election. Thanks Nicole.

"As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama made the statement with pride. . .'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . . As with so many other statements I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something like that from a presidential candidate in this nation. To think our forefathers fought and died for the right for our nation to be a Christian nation--and to have this man say with pride that we are no longer that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers intended it to be."

-From: Dr. John Tisdale

HONORED

I am Honored.
To be your Mother.
Gentle souls. Graciously given.
My beating heart.
Gleaming. Fulfilled.
It is my Honor.

Life's Masterpiece

When my mom was in town for the summer she came up with this and had me write it down for her. She never told me why or who it was for, but I had a feeling she wrote it for me.

A young girl's heart broke and it became a stroke on the canvas of her life.
Then a hand emerged from the canvas and wiped away her tears,
and took her hand and said, "come with me, there is something I want you to see."
She took his hand and followed quietly.

The path was covered with sharp rocks, dangerous holes, and other kinds of debris.
And when she hesitated, the hand pulled her closer and said, "stay near and follow me."
The path ended at the top of a small grassy knoll.
He bid her sit down to watch the scene played out below.

There was a young father laughing and playing with his older children.
On a blanket behind him, was the young mother with the younger children gathered arounde her knee.

The young girl looked up with a start and said, "is that young mother me?"
The voice whispered, "yes." The hand squeezed hers and silently slipped away.
The young girl stood up and realized the pain in her heart had ceased

And as she looked at her life's canvas, it had become a masterpiece.

-Valerie McClean (july 08)