Happy Mother's Day...

My kids are my heroes. Yes, you read that right. This year, while the world is busy celebrating Mother’s Day, I want to celebrate Kids’ Day. Sure, part of that is probably because I have no one quite old enough to organize a breakfast in bed or the ability to take the day off to relax as my form of celebration. :)  But it’s much more because I am honestly just that proud of them. They inspire me to be a better mother, and a better woman, because of how they choose to live life, and force me to be braver just to keep up with their bravery.

We are coming to the end of another school year, and the first full one they’ve had to face without their dad, who was always so involved in their activities. And yes, it hurts them to see all their friends’ dads there when theirs can’t be, but it has never stopped them. They deal with their grief in that moment, and then choose to live. Like, really truly fully live… from the time they wake up in the morning -usually before it’s even light out - until the time they go to bed with all of their animals plopped on top of them. I have to slow them down and make them choose activities because they want to do them all. To be on the go, go, go... all day, every day.

So of course, that’s where I have to be a bit of a voice of reason for them. But at the same time, I love how they have chosen not to make their circumstances a crutch to hinder them from trying new things or not excel at what they have set out to do. I’m amazed as I reflect on all of the new things they’ve tried this year, and the ways they’ve grown. I'm so proud of them and pray they can continue to live that way as they grow and face other hard things. They take God at His Word, and choose to live expectant lives that long for Heaven, but spend today living and singing and laughing. And that’s where I’m the one who can learn from them.

We may look different now than a “normal” family, and we always will. We are far from perfect, and we will never will be this side of Heaven. We’ve got plenty of messes and spills and unkind words and just plain old rough days. We carry scars with us, and I know we’ll face plenty more hard days ahead. But we’ve also seen beauty. We’ve seen the brevity of life firsthand and the importance of making every day count. We celebrate each other’s successes, cry with each other in moments of sadness or disappointment, and laugh as often as we can. We even are known to stop and break out in some kind of crazy dance from time to time.

So yea, today’s post is basically a brag on my kids, because I believe they are pretty much amazing and I am one blessed woman to be given the gift from my Father of being their mom. There’s a lot I don’t understand about God’s ways or why He allows what He does, but I am convinced of His love for me every day through my children.

Happy Mother’s Day out there to all the moms who may read this. May we never forget, no matter how hard life gets or how trying our kids can be, that we are truly the blessed ones.