A Happy Mother's Day for me

What a happy Mother's Day for me.  I woke up early - 6:30 am - and worked on the Relief Society presentation for today.  I'm in our ward Relief Society presidency, and I'm in charge of Sunday instruction.  We chose to do a panel and have a group discussion instead of a lesson.  We asked three Sisters in the ward to be on the panel - Melanie, Maria and Kim - and I asked them to read Sheri Dew's talk "Are We Not All Mothers" and Pres. Monson's talk from last fall "Charity Never Faileth".  After reading a couple of quotes from Sis. Dew's talk, I asked the following questions:
Do you have any experience with a woman who "mothered" you, other than your own mother?
What keeps us from nurturing?
What worldly views have you run into that degrade motherhood?
Just those three questions took up the whole time.  There were some very tender, sweet comments made.  The Spirit was present in large supply, and I was very grateful.  One comment was made by Chelsea, a new sister in the ward, who related that she had been a foster mother to many teenage boys.  One of the lessons she learned is that no matter what they had been through with their mothers, the boys always loved their own mother.  One of the other comments that was made was by Maria relating to us what she had heard Jayne Clayson say in a Time Out for Women.  Clayson said that women would not take stay-at-home mothers seriously until they took themselves seriously, meaning that they needed to stop apologizing and making excuses, and saying, "I'm just a Mom".  I can tell you one thing - I never said that, or felt that I should apologize for it.  I think that is because I knew I could choose differently, and that I had chosen - literally - to be at home instead of in the work place.  At first it was a struggle for me, but when I finally came to the realization, and deep assurance, that no one could replace me as the mother of my children - NO ONE, not even Bruce could do what I could do for them and be for them - then I felt that I had a purpose, and that I was doing the most important thing I could be doing, bar none.  That was a huge life-changer for me, and I've been blessed by that knowledge and assurance.  I'm also grateful to know that my Savior Jesus Christ has offered the Atonement to me as a gift, and this makes all sacrifice, love, work - everything I do as a Mother have meaning and hope.

I went back to sleep after awhile, and about 10 am, Joseph and Peter came in to escort me to the kitchen table.  They each offered me an arm, and I walked into the clean kitchen with a beautifully set table and Love One Another from Joyspring II, by Kurt Bestor playing.  I had the "You are special today" red plate, a big glass of orange juice, NingXia Red and chia seed on the side, and Libby poured me a glass of hot chocolate.  At my feet was the foot massager, and there were a dozen pink roses in a vase from Bruce.  The kids wrote me a poster with an acrostic poem on it.  L - lovely, O - outstanding, R - Reverent, E - Excellent, N - Never-failing, A - Awesome (at making smoothies).  Isn't that cute!  Bruce made the standard eggs, hashbrowns and bacon, and Jesse made crepes as well.  I'm telling you - I got the royal treatment!!  They even put a picture of Josh in his place on the table.  :)

I spoke to Josh this afternoon.  He is over with Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Angie and her kids.  I told my Mother, "You are still mothering for me!"

Bruce had a fun time fishing the last two days.  They went up into WA state to fish on the Columbia river.  He said it drizzled the whole time and reminded him so much of Seattle with the low-lying clouds and the beautiful evergreen trees.  The trip cost him over $200 and he came home with one salmon fillet.  That is one expensive salmon!!  But he went with great friends, so he came home with more than just a fillet of salmon - good memories were involved also.  :)

I have been enjoying my Kindness Foot Zone Therapy class.  Wow - have I learned a lot!  I also did the Farmer's Market in our town yesterday, and had fun doing that with Karen, my friend and upline.

Soccer is over!  Whew - we made it through another outdoor season.  Luckily, Bruce and Joseph are still playing indoor, because I LOVE going to their games.  I want them to just keep playing year round.

It has finally started to warm up around here.  It doesn't fully seem like spring to me until it starts to warm up.

I have been buying Thrive freeze-dried Food Storage from Shelf-Reliance through my sister Angie.   I sent a can of Strawberries with Josh for school, and we opened up a can recently for Bruce to take fishing with him.  Wow - I really like the food.  I'm glad to have this new source of food storage, especially for the fruits and vegetables.

I read a great book - The Healing Code by Alex Lloyd and Ben Johnson.  Did I mention that already?  I think I did.  Anyway, I recommend it to anyone who has a health, relationship, or any kind of problem that you can't figure out how to deal with.

Can I just say that I love May?  I loev the green and flowers, the end-of-the-year things, and looking forward to summer.  And of course, there's Mother's Day and my birthday all in the same month.  It's just a GREAT month.

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

A Happy Mother's Day

What more joy could a mother have than I have today?

I want to share a little about why my Mother's Day is happy today. If it sounds like bragging or whatever - I don't care. I'm just putting it all out there.

A few months ago, Libby took a special marker for drawing on windows, and wrote, "I love everybody. - Elisabeth" It's been there for months and I won't clean it off. I look out at the beautiful landscape around us every morning and see those words, and I feel happy. Having Libby as a daughter brings me joy!

Peter wrote me a letter for Mother's Day that really touched me. He went through a lot of the things I do, like teach piano, assign referees for the soccer club, help people with oils, and substitute at the schools, and told me I did a good job at those things. It was a really thoughtful letter. And seeing him take good care of his new rabbit "Petey" is fun. Having Peter as a son brings me joy!

Last Friday, Mary got together with a friend in her Beehive class and made a Mother's Day gift for her Beehive advisers. They did this on their own, without any outside prompting. They were delightful gifts - a vase with the "flowers" being a cut out of a flower with the girls' picture on it. I love it that Mary's doing things like this on a Friday afternoon when she could be doing so many other things. Having Mary as a daughter brings me great joy!

Yesterday morning, Jesse said, "Mom, come and listen to my song." I immediately went up the stairs (I don't always do this). She sat down at our Petrof piano and played a beautiful Valse by Chopin. She was only assigned the song ten days ago by her piano teacher, so she didn't have it perfected, but it was amazing how well she played it. She plays with a great deal of feeling and emotion, which you need for Chopin. I went outside to milk the cow (I know - ironic, isn't it?) and started to cry with the sheer thrill of hearing my own daughter play something like that! The day before, she also got an award for being in the Top 10 academically at school. Having Jesse as a daughter brings me great joy!

Friday afternoon, Bruce and I went to Joseph's track meet. Without consulting each other, we both brought along the book we were reading. (For those interested - Bruce was reading Fablehaven and I was reading Mallorean Vol. 1). Joseph said later that he was looking up in the stands and saw us sitting there reading our books. I told Bruce that we were going to look really nerdy, and his reply was, "Woopdidoo - who cares?" I thought the same thing, so there we sat between races (there really is a lot of time between races), reading our books. Instead of being embarrassed, Joseph told us, "You guys are really cool." Ha ha And then, after a trip to Taco Bell to fill him with some carbs, Joseph went out and raced a PR (personal record) of 4:48 in the 1600 meter. WOW!! I can't believe he can run that fast. I was so proud of him. Having Joseph as a son brings me great joy!

And now Josh. Friday morning they had the Academic Assembly at the High School, and Josh also got in the Top 10 academically of the Senior class. He also had a lead part in the video that was the entertainment for the assembly, because of being a Studentbody Officer. I had one Mom tell me that he stole the show. And then, yesterday, the MAD Boys were guest performers in a Concert put on by a local singing group. They got to perform in the ______ Civic Center (a nice auditorium). They sang three different songs, and they turned out great. They sold CD's at Intermission, signed autographs, and had very pretty girls hanging out with them. I was just about bursting buttons the whole night. Today Josh spoke in Church, bearing his testimony and talking about mothers. I felt so foolish when he was talking because I was smiling, no - not just smiling - I was grinning ridiculously wide the whole time. I thought to myself, "Calm down and look a little more dignified," but I couldn't do it. Having Josh as a son brings me great joy!

And then after all this, Mary Jean, my dear friend in our ward, said in Relief Society that if your children are making bad choices it's not all your fault, and if they are making good choices, you can't take all the credit. Very true! The truth with our children is that more than me making them who they are, they have weathered well my motherhood. Ha ha! Ah, they really are good kids.

I came down this morning to a beautiful breakfast with all the children at the table and a wonderful husband serving it. Thanks Bruce!

I also want to thank my own Mother for all she has done and continues to do for me. Besides everything she has taught me and the wonderful example she is, I think I am most grateful for my Mom because she is my best cheerleader! Even recently, I had this reaffirmed when I was doing a presentation on essential oils on a Conference Call. I was on with a brother and a sister and my Mother. I had started the presentation, and then we had small break. My brother and sister both said,"You should probably use a script." My mother said, "You're doing great, just keep going!" Now, please don't misunderstand - my brother and sister were totally right, and I didn't get offended by what they said. And at the same time, hearing my mother give me encouraging words just like she has done my whole life, well, it made me feel so good. I had to laugh right out loud at how her simple words made me feel. Thank you, Mom, for being my best cheerleader!

This is a picture I really like of my Mom. The trees are shading her face, but that's how she likes it - to be outdoors among the plants and trees, and surrounded by children and grandchildren.This picture was taken 6/30/2004.

Happy Mother's Day to my own Mother, my wonderful Mother-in-law, and all women who nurture and love others.