Mom.

          Since Mother's Day is this Sunday I thought I would take a moment to talk about my mom. Every mom who stays at home and chooses to spend time with her kids is a very special person. They have chosen to sacrifice spending more time with friends, holding down a professional job, and really following an earthly legacy that the world will be able to see and applaud. Why? Because she has chosen to pour her life into something that is eternal. 

      My mom I no exception. She could have decided that she didn't want kids or that she wanted to put us into school. She could have decided to only have two and that was going to be it. (Or even stopped at 5, number that both my mom and dad said they would have.) She could have done these things, but she didn't. 

     It doesn't make her choice more right than someone else's choice but it was what she decided to do, it was what she decided to be. I am very thankful to have a mom who is so dedicated to being at home and teaching her kids because she finds that it's important to her and for her. She also was told by my father that when they had kids that she would stay at home but even so she didn't have to make all of the choices that she did. 

     She could have decided to pursue a career in the fashion industry or gone and started up her own restaurant. Instead she carves out time to create art for herself and family to wear and teaches her daughters how to sew (and a few sons who show an interest). She still dreams of opening a restaurant but for now she cooks awesome gourmet food for her family and is able to pass down some of that fabulous cooking to her children (cooking: a skill of survival on a tight budget plus it tastes better).

     She has days where the hustle and bustle of life gets to her and she gets tired of being a mom. There are days when it's hard for her to get through this day because of all of the stress of all of the things that she sees that aren't done and the irritating "mommy, mommy, mommy" of the clingy 3 year olds also vying for her attention. There are days when being a mom is so hard it would seem that climbing Mt. Everest would be a less tiring occupation. (You at least wouldn't have all of the stuff and people there calling for you to take care of them right now!) 

     But being a mom is beautiful too. I've seen my mom stay calm in the midst of chaos and be able to help kids with school, keep them fed, make sure the babies have clean diapers, and on top of that deal with a daughter who is PMSing (that would be me). She has helped in cultivating in us a spiritual foundation which has been critical for us as we reached adolescence and adulthood. The countless hours that she takes to pour into our lives is a beautiful gift and it isn't because of anything that we did to make her make those choices but because she listened to God's guidance and submitted to His will. She is beautiful not because of anything that she has done to make herself that way but because of the Work that God does through her. 

    Thanks Mom <3

This post is dedicated to Lara Dickson, the most amazing woman in my life.