A Late Mother’s Day

I’m a few days late posting this, but happy mother’s day to all the wonderful mothers & women out there.

I had a really nice mother’s day.

It started with breakfast in bed because it’s tradition.

Followed by a lot of gifts.

And I love gifts.

I got a red plant from Ruby (pictured above).

I got an awesome monogrammed tree bark vase from Hank.

I got a new kitchen grater from Luke along with presents that he made me at school.

He made me a heart necklace with his thumb print in it.

It was a struggle for him to let me wear it to church, he kept saying it was for him to wear.

He also filled out a card that was all about me.

To sum it up: I am five-teen years old, weigh 10 lbs and love sausage.

Sounds about right.

Then Jared surprised me with tickets to Wicked.

I couldn’t be more excited.

We went to church where there was an amazing sacrament program with singing and talks from the primary.

We got spoiled with more treats at church, strawberry shortcake and sugar cookies.

We headed over to my parents for dinner, where I was spoiled with more treats.

Another tradition that I love is that my mom gives each of us girls a book about mothers.

I actually hinted about a book that I’ve been wanting and she came through for me.

It was a really great day.

And although sometimes I don’t feel like I deserve all of it, it feels nice to be appreciated.

Motherhood is definitely complicated.

It can have me wanting to pull my hair out to wanting a hundred babies all in the same breath.

I had to wait awhile before I became a mother and I had no idea how much it would change me.

I’m so thankful for Luke, Ruby, and Hank.

I try not to take this gift for granted.

I know I do sometimes.

Tonight I was gone to a church activity and when I got home Jared was putting Luke to bed and they didn’t hear me come in.

After Jared left Luke’s room, I could hear Luke crying for me.

“I just need my mom, I want my mom, I miss her.”

It broke my heart and made it swell all at once.

When I went up to his room he was almost asleep so I ran my fingers over his face and he popped his eyes open and smiled so big.

“Mom, I was sad about you, I’m so glad your home.”

I laid next to him in bed until he fell asleep.

These are the moments I try to remember when days are hard.

These children of mine really need me.

Not just anyone, ME.

Tonight at the church activity we learned about gardening, pruning, trimming, and grafting in tree branches.

As they talked about trees, they said you can really shape a tree anyway you want it, you just have to be patient.

You have to move the branch the way you want it, making sure not to pull to hard to break it and then tie it into place.

Then wait.

When it becomes more flexible you pull it a little more in the direction you want and then secure it again until you have the branch where you want it to grow.

I thought this was a perfect metaphor with kids.

Directing them in the right way and then patience and then doing it again.

It is a journey, but one that I’m so glad I get to be apart of.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day!