Mom's Day at Our House

Mother's Day is a rather special day at our house.  For so many reasons.  To start, Tim and I have both been blessed with fabulously beautiful, generous, God fearing, loving, creative, brilliant, dependable, strong, sensitive, patient and independant moms.  They are an ever present part of our lives and our kid's lives, which we are so grateful for. 

And then there are two young women.  Our angels.  5 year ago, Amber made an impossibly difficult decision as a mother.  She lovingly carried our son for 9 months and then chose to give him a life that she couldn't offer him.  At the time, I had no depth of understanding of just how selfless that decision was.  I wasn't yet a mother.  God intersected our lives with hers and the result has been a little boy who has captured our hearts in every sense of the word.  In our minds, she will always be a mom to him.  She gave him life and loved him in a way that I will never fully comprehend.  And then there's our dear Brook.  She was a terrified teenager that made a decision more mature than most adults could ever dream possible.  She went through Senior year, carrying a baby that she knew she couldn't care for.  She took care of her body and in turn, our baby girl.  She entrusted us to raise her and gracefully stepped aside and gave us the gift of a daughter.  Can you think of a gift greater than that?  We've been given that gift twice by these women.  They will always be mothers to our kids and will always be angels to us. 

And last is me as a mom.  Our journey to become parents seems so far in the past, but on Mother's Day, I'm reminded of just how amazing God's plans were for us and for our priceless kids.  My infertility was just a stepping stone in a brilliant and perfect outcome.  Mother's Day isn't about raising kids.  It's about celebrating all the remarkable ways in which women can be called "mother."  And it's about recognizing the pain and loss that so many women feel on this day of celebration.  My heart aches for birth moms who mourn the children they could not raise.  For moms who haven't yet been blessed with children. For moms who have lost children in the womb, at birth, at 18 or at 68.  For women who have lost their moms or who never had a mother figure to look up to.  I know how lonely and sad this day can be.  And, thanks to the grace of God, I also know what a reminder this day is of how blessed I am to be called Mom.

Whatever your story is, Happy Mother's Day friends.