Mothers Day Reflections

Got this on my 40th birthday..........

some messy times~~~Meghan loved spinach!

One of my good friend's house.............what a handful!

Birthday parties

Worn out times

Christmas at our old house

Birthday parties again........

Near drowning accidents! Oh, gosh, I remember how scary that was.

Back yard pool fun~~~~She loved those goggles

First bicycle~~~~

Grown up

It's officially Mother's Day now.........late night up

I hope everyone is going to have a great one today. I thought I would pull out a few of pics from my kids. They are all grown up now and have their own lives so Mother's Day for me is different.

It's one of the most challenging choices in life I ever made. I'm glad I chose to have children. This reflection is in no way to say I was the perfect parent, I don't even think that is possible. But I can tell you this, I did the very best at the time I thought was possible given the circumstances life sent me.

My goals changed over the years just as they grew and changed from one stage to another. But the constant that never changed was for these things:

1. To make home a safe place

2. To protect them from people or places that were not safe

3. To teach them gradually to become independent, functioning adults

4. To learn basic core values that they could take with them into their own adult life.

Of course, looking back, it's easiest to remember the funny, good times rather than some of the deepest challenging, sometimes sad or disappointing times.

I think as adults now, they will choose their own way in life. I feel pretty confident that many things they will see more clearly when they have their own children.

I once had a friend who told me long ago that the measure of success is not how far you go in life but it's how much you had to go through to get there. And without going into detail, I can tell you that I had some huge hurdles to go through, some I did share and some I kept tucked away inside.

I have learned many things in this process of having adult children. One, is to be a friend when asked and not to give unwanted information, no matter how much we want to protect them from uncomfortable situations. Two, pray every day for their safety and happiness and guidance for the choices they make in life.

Everybody is different but for me this is the crux of my experience of mothering. For those who have not had children reach the stage of teenagers, I'll have to say, this is the most challenging. It's not the diaper changing, entertaining, getting them back and forth to baseball or gymnastics but the real challenge occurs later when hormones are fluctuating plus peer pressure and they even go through stages of "I hate you". This really hurts to the core but I realized later that they really didn't. But, you see, there is something about being a mother that easily forgives and forgets these times and they must realize that even when they express negative attitudes, you still loved them the same. Nothing could stop the love I feel for both my children.

On Mothers Day especially I think of little Aaron. If I believed like my mother wanted me to that God is a punative God and that's the reason he didn't live and all that hokey stuff, I would still sit and cry about it because that is probably the most hurtful thing I have heard before. But, again, forgiveness is there. I know different inside and that's how I make from day to day.

Here's hoping you find deep meaning on your day and enjoy the time you have with your little ones because they grow up quick.