Hidden Treasures

Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own. -- Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons

What a gorgeous day it is outside today.  The sun is shining, there is a nice steady breeze and I am making sure to take all of it in and reflect while watching my little man play in the sand.

Mother's Day is just around the corner and quite honestly, it is hard for me to believe that I have worn the title of "Mother" for 14 years already.  It hasn't been easy, that's for sure.  But at the same time it has been by far the most rewarding and most important title I will EVER have.

I think about all of the cute experiences I have had the pleasure of experiencing and retelling over the years with each of my children and the conversations we have shared.  The singing, the dancing, the storytelling, the vacations, the school projects, the sports they have participated in, the talent shows they have been in and all of the good times.

For example, the time my dear little Samantha, at the ripe old age of 4'ish asked me the following:

"Mom."

"Yes dear," I replied.

She continued, "Why do I only have one mouth?"

To which I replied, "Excuse me?"  As I thought I misheard the question.

"Why do I only have one mouth?!" she asked again.

To which I replied, "Well how many do you think you need?"

"Three!!!"  she exclaimed.

"Three?"  I said.  "Oh Lord know.  You drive me crazy with the one you have."  I stated with a smile on my face.

I mean seriously.  Where and why would she even ask something like that?  It's not like she saw other people walking down the street with three and she thought she got ripped off or something right?  I'll never forget it.

Being a Mom brings all kinds of hidden treasures on a daily basis.  Some maybe not the kind of treasures you may really want to find.  Like the stain in your rug, the marker on your wall, or the phone call from the school principal (we've experienced all of these through the years).

I did find some cute hidden treasures this morning when doing my laundry however.  When opening the clothes chute and taking various things out of it underneath the pile of laundry were these.  I think I know who happened to put them in there and it made me smile instantly.

Our dog's toy football

A toy baseball

A toy basketball with an empty paper toweling roll in background

An empty milk container

So, after finding these wonderful surprises Luke and I headed outside for our daily walk to Burmeschs for an ice cream cone and then headed next door to the park for a while.  Oh sure, I could've been doing other things in the house as the good Lord knows I never seem to get caught up around here but seriously, what's more important?  A spotless house or spending time with my kids and letting them explore and enjoy the beauty surrounding us.

While observing this innocent little guy just entertaining himself in the sand I thought about other stories of the past with my kids and felt very blessed.  I have three healthy kids, knock on wood.  Three smart kids.  Three individual kids who are different in their own ways but alike in others, and I think that's cool as all heck as I have always taught them to be who they are no matter what other people may think of them.  Dress the way you feel comfortable (within reason of course), be friends with the people the most like you no matter if they aren't the "popular" or "cool" people necessarily, and fight for your dreams and yourself no matter what.  I hope they realize, I think they do, how hard that may be at times but how important it really is. 

And most important, to treat others and themselves as God would want them and expect them to as he truly is the ultimate judge.

Which brings me to the last cute story.

Truth be told, our two older kids have seen the Jackass movies.  I do use the remote to skip certain scenes however that obviously aren't appropriate but apparently they left a mark on our son, Zachary.

A few years back, him and I had a deep conversation about heaven and hell.  And after losing both his grandpas and baby brother he decided his ultimate goal would be to do what God wanted and be a good person (he does struggle with this occasionally) so that he could go to Heaven when he died and see them all again.  We talked pretty in depth about this for quite a while when he was in the bathtub and I was sitting on the toilet (fully clothed) talking to him.  After this conversation he paused for a short while and said:

"Hey Mom.  I bet those guys from Jackass aren't going to Heaven, heh?"

To all you Mommies out there, Happy Mother's Day on Sunday.  You all deserve it.  It is the toughest job in the world!!!  And may God bless you with many more hidden treasures every single day to come.