The Beauty of Mother's Day

I started to blog about one little part of Mother's Day. Scott and the girls blessed me with a very sweet gift that I have been loving this week while teaching from home.

But I haven't had a chance to blog about the beauty of that day.

Mother's Day is not my favorite day. I'm not sure exactly why except to say that there seems to be a pressure on that day. A pressure for it to be pretty or for it to be pretty to be lovely. I don't like that pressure.

And then there is that part of me that remembers just how painful Mother's Day was when I was waiting to be a mother. And in knowing that so many women suffer with inconsolable pain. I feel deeply on Mother's Day for the wives that have lost a child, lost a pregnancy, or are feeling lost as they wait for the blessing of a child. It is a tender day indeed, and I am mindful of it.

I always thought that sadness on Mother's Day would no longer be once I was a mother. Once it was 'my turn' to celebrate. But it is still there because it is part of my story. And I am so very grateful for that story. The story God trusted me with - to wait. Somehow I still have a tinny part of my soul that grieves those days when I was a young bride married eight years already still with a waiting heart.

But it is a still a beautiful day. It is because I get to celebrate my precious mother. I am prayerfully grateful for her wisdom, her quiet example, and her life of faith, of the deep Catholic heritage she bestowed on me. And I celebrate Scott's mother who is willing, always to drop anything to fill in the cracks when they are needed.

Most of all there could never be anything I am more grateful to God for then my beautiful daughters. Truly, Motherhood is a gift from Heaven above.

And so I love the honesty of the day. In these 47 years I can fully accept that beauty is all of it together.

We did indeed have a beauty - filled day.

Things I don't want to forget:

We participated in Mass at home live streamed from our church. And then I sat down to such a lovely lunch.



Just look at the beauty in this salad. Oh it was devine.



Sweet poatato muffins so delicious.



And a fruit salad with sweet watermellon.



All of the textures, all of the colors, all of the flavors were perfection.



And it made the most welcoming table with tea.



After Mass just a few quick pictures in our yard.







And then off to the sweetest part of Mother's Day. The girls played their violas for both Grandmothers. (from a safe distance)



The wind sure made it challenging but they did it and it blessed me so.



I couldn't take any pictures of Anna play because it was so windy that I had to run to the stand to keep it from flying away.

And I know it blessed the grandmothers as well.





After we were home Scott and the girls gave me cards and a few surprises. I know this picture is blurry that Scott took but I still want it here to remember how I was looking at Anna.



This one makes me smile - my littlest one - so excited about her card for me.







And I did enjoy that wonderful Sunday all the way until the sun set.



When I look back I could not have imagined all of the places my life would lead. And all of the places God would lead my heart. I never thought I would travel to China to become a mother; to hold my first daughter. I never thought my first daughter would already be almost one and a half years old. I never imagined that at almost 17 years old God would call me to still work on healing her broken heart with the promise that one day He would make it whole.

I could not have imagined that Motherhood would include my second suffering daily from a chronic disease. I never thought that I would be in the hospital and watch her under anesthesia more times than I could count. But God has taught me deep compassion for pain and how to find strength deep within myself to mother her.

When I look back I could have have imagined such a blessed, holy, sacred, loving, fulfilling, joyful marriage.

Yet God called me to ALL of those places. It's not all hard, sad days as the above might seem. It is wonderful and joyful and blessed. And above all, beautiful.