Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day. Mostly, because everyone, even strangers seem to be so happy. I had the "lucky" opportunity to speak in church. As I tried to decide what to speak on, I really wanted to emphasize that Mother's Day is to honor all women. You really don't have to have borne a child to be a mother. Teachers, Aunts and friends who influence children for good are all examples of great mothers. My friend, Mandy, wrote it best when she said that it should be called Mothering Day. Jimmy's "Moms" is not his biological mother but couldn't be more of a mother to him. I'm so grateful to her and to my own mother. President Gordon B. Hinkley said, "After the Lord created the earth, and everything upon it, He created man. And then, as the crowning act of creation, He created woman. She was the ultimate of all His creations."

I thought I would reiterate what I said in my talk about my own mother. "I have been tremendously blessed in my life to have a mother that has taught me how to be strong and faithful. she has always been there for me in every way possible. Since I have had my own children it has been such a comfort to have her nearby. I know that few others love my children the way that she does. I have noticed that my mother is so ingrained in me. I do or say little things that she did with me when I was young. I didn't remember that she used to greet us in the morning with "Good morning, Sunshine" until I started saying it to my boys. Much of what she has taught me has been through her quiet example.

We came over to my parents after church and had a cook out with everyone. My sisters and brother-in-law came as well. Kim is pregnant, so it was cool to have another soon-to-be mom in the family. Jimmy gave me beautiful roses on Saturday night and Stephanie gave me my favorite, Gerbera Daisies. I got some books from Mom and a card from my Dad. The night was topped off by a card from Jimmy. If I had access to my own computer, I would post a picture of the card. I will just say that it had a picture of a nasty tatooed biker guy on the front and leave it at that. He did write some nice thoughts inside, though. I will really miss holidays with all of my family around.

Probably the nicest part of the weekend was Saturday night. The boys were both asleep at my parents house and Jimmy was there too. I was alone at our house. There was no furniture so I sat on a blanket in the living room. The house was quiet as I prepared my talk. It was so nice to have some quiet silent time. I was studying something that I value, motherhood. It was just really peaceful and quiet. No babies crying, no tv, no radio. I need to make time to do that more often.

Happy Mother's Day!