Happy Mother's Day...

Once a year we take time out to say thank you and show our appreciation to a group of women who if not for them we would not be who we are today.
I am not a mother, but I have played a similar role to so many children. The kids I take care of become like my own. When they fall and scrape their knee, I scoop them up to kiss their boo-boos. When they need to be punished, I swear it's harder on me than them. My heart breaks a little each time I lay them down for nap and hear them cry out my name as I shut the door. My heart leaps for joy when they run to hug me good-bye and cringes when they cry if I slip out the door before they get the chance to wrap their little arms around my waist. I think my face lights up just as much as theirs when I see them, and the list of these instances could go on for quite a few more sentences.
I feel all those things, and yet I am not a mother to any of them. How much more do their actual mothers feel those emotions. I wonder what each child will grow up to be. I ponder the abilities and characteristics that are slowly being molded in front of my eyes, and I like to speculate what each of those little bodies will one day accomplish. I fear for their souls. I fear that they will one day grow up and choose to listen to their own will instead of the one belonging to our Heavenly Father. I know that it is my responsibility to be a light to those tiny little hearts while I have my chance. How much more does a mother feel that?
I do not lie awake at night (unless doing an overnight) and listen to the rhythmic breathing (and possible snoring) of those tiny vessels. I do not lie awake at night as they get older and wonder what they are doing and why they are not home two minutes after curfew. A time comes when I do not worry about them anymore because the time has past for me to care for them. Time ages them and replaces the need for a nanny or babysitter, but time never replaces the need for a mother. Even when that mother's love is the one thing the child cannot seem to handle a mother loves and continues to love. When friends replace family and jobs cut into sit down Sunday dinners, when boyfriends and girlfriends become the number one priority and days off from school are spent with them rather than at home, when attitudes and independence begin to buck against the maternal instincts to protect and provide, a mother does not replace her love for her children. If anything, that love only grows stronger and deeper.
There is a special bond formed while child is still in the womb. It hears the voice of it's mother, and the mother is in tune with the child's movements. The mother-child bond only grows as the child does. Even when the child turns away from parental guidance and does things that strike fear in the heart of the very woman who endured the pain to birth them, that love is present, like the air that is breathed. It's unconditional.
I am so thankful for the mother that God gave me. The past 23 years she has loved me, and I know without a doubt that she will never stop loving me. No matter what I do, how I speak, where I go, what I try, she will love me. She has taught me so much about people- she is the reason I know as much as I do about children. She is the reason I love to bake. She is the reason I rearrange my furniture at least once a month. She is the reason I have a heart for people. She is the one who led me to Christ.
God blessed me with amazing parents, and on this Mother's Day (that is almost over) I want to thank her.
Thank you, Mom, for doing all that you do.... I love you....

a few months before I moved...

Christmas 2010

Beach 2012

Mom with some of her crew