Mother’s Day 2007 Madre, mom, mommy, mother, ma….

Mother’s Day 2007

Madre, mom, mommy, mother, ma…nothing is sweeter to my ears than being called “mom” by one of my girls. I confess I only really considered myself a mom until the last year or so…sounds crazy, since my oldest is fifteen years old. But when I think of mom, I think of my own mother who died when I was nineteen. That is who mom is…I’m Ann, the daughter. It’s not that I don’t love my children (I do) or love being a mom (I love that, too), but when I look in the mirror I still see the eighteen year old girl who lived, loved and slept sports. I still see the girl who loved to spend all afternoon shooting baskets or inventing new games to play with her brothers. I still see the girl who dreams about what she wants to be when she grows up. Who me? Mom? No, that’s Bernita, that’s mom, I’m Ann, the daughter.

I think this year has really been a turning point. I don’t know if turning 40 has anything to do with it. Or that my firstborn is a freshman in high school and my youngest starts kindergarten in August. But when I look in the mirror I don’t see the eighteen year old girl in the basketball uniform…I see Mom. Of course I still love to shoot baskets (and hit volleyballs and go on long runs), invent new games to play with my kids and I am still dreaming about what I want to be when I grow up…but I am the Mom now…I am the Mom.

Spring is on its way when…

Spring is on its way when…

The morning alarm becomes thunderstorms punctuated with lightning strikes.

Flowers begin peeking out from the mulch that was laid last fall.

The shelves in Wal-Mart’s seasonal aisle are filled with sidewalk chalk, jumpropes and hula-hoops.

You are washing fewer socks because the kids are wearing flip flops or going bare foot.

You stock up on Shout and Oxyclean to get the mud stains out of the children’s clothes.

The mailman delivers more garden and seed catalogs than bills.

Your carpet becomes a new color…muddy taupe.

Your little ones come running in the house with a fist full of the first flowers of spring…dandelions.

You hear the distant whack of baseballs at the neighborhood ball diamond.

Windows are thrown open at the first sign of temperatures above 60 degrees and fresh air fills the house.

You start visiting all the “organizing” websites for spring cleaning ideas.

Spring cleaning lasts about a day as the kids and the dog drag half of the garden over your freshly washed kitchen floors.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Spring is just around the corner and one of my favorite verses comes to mind…

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

I love that about God, every morning is new. I think that is why I love mornings, Mondays, the first day of the month, the first day of the year…and birthdays. I look forward to the newness, to a fresh start. I am so thankful God is faithful to renew His compassions each morning, He doesn’t have to but in His infinite loving kindness He does.

Amen.