Mother's Day 2016

This is my mom and I have learned and continue to learn so much from her! She raised me and my siblings with her kind, forgiving heart and her listening ear. Mom has always taught me to be kind to others and to always assume the best in everyone. She's taught me that hard is good (if we have the right perspective!) and that the Lord loves everyone. She is the strongest, most faithful woman I know. When she underwent chemotherapy to treat her colon cancer during my Senior year of high school, she never once thought that the cancer would beat her. She knew that she would get better, and thankfully, she did. And when my brother, Steven died, she took our family to church that next Sunday because our family always went to church. What would I do without my mother. Mom, I really hope I make you proud and want you to know how much I love and respect you. Thanks for being my mom!

I look at these three photos and I can still hardly believe that I'm their mom.

Remember a couple of posts back when I said I was auditioning to be Ariel in the musical "The Little Mermaid?" Andrew and I were discussing the topic more and what sacrifices our family would have to make. The person that I felt would be required to make the most sacrifice, by-far, was my dear husband. He would have to sacrifice his soccer so that he could be home with the girls while I went to play practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 7-10 and then again on Saturday mornings. Andrew was totally supportive.

But then we started talking about Barrett. I didn't want to have to stop breastfeeding him, and I didn't want to pump and bottle-feed him because I value that time I have with him while he's eating. I had figured that I could probably bring him with me to play practice and feed him during a break or something, but I wondered how I would feel if he started crying while I was practicing and had to depend on someone else to dry his tears. I knew that I would feel guilty.

As I weighed the pros and cons in my mind, I came to this conclusion... Being Ariel in "The Little Mermaid" isn't, and has never truly been my dream. I am already living my dream as a mother.

And so, the right decision became very clear to me. I decided to give up a lesser dream to live my greatest dream to the fullest!

No mother should give up all her hobbies, creativity, dreams, etc. entirely, but there is a time for those things, and an amount of effort that should be exerted to do them. The time for my musical theater interests is not now. The time for that hobby will come eventually.

That's what motherhood is. Motherhood is sacrificing some of your dreams for a time. And you are blessed for doing it.

And when the time is right, The Lord will guide you and help you to find those other dreams again and you will have joy.

I am so grateful that I get to be a mother to three beautiful children that teach me to become the best version of myself. They help me to see my strengths as well as my weaknesses, helping me to recognize where I need improvement. They fight and yell, hit, whine, and cry, but they love, they share, and they forgive so freely.

I pray that I can be the mother that my children need.

If you're a mom, I applaud you! If you are a woman who has ever nurtured a child in any capacity, I thank you! Can you imagine what this world would be like without you? The world needs you and I hope you feel special today and very-much appreciated, because undoubtedly, there is someone out there who is thanking God for the influence you've had in their lives. Thank you for the good you do.

Happy Mother's day!