What else can I say but Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day. For some people this is a very difficult day. Some have lost their mothers and some women unfortunately struggle with the reality of infertility or have experienced the painful loss of a child. If you fall into one of those categories, know that my prayers for strength and comfort are with you today.

After my grandma died, I remember my mom telling me that it doesn't matter what kind of relationship you have with your mother. Once she is gone, you will always miss her.

Mom, to you I say Happy Mother's Day and I love you! I'm sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you but I know that Dad will take good care of you. I hope that you have a great day and want you to know that I am thinking about you and am thankful that God placed me into your care. I have learned a lot about being a mother and am grateful for your Godly example. While I struggle to implement it into my own life, what I remember most about growing up is you singing hymns and reading your Bible and praying every single morning. I do not remember a day that this didn't happen. Even if there were days, there couldn't have been many. Because this memory has always stood out clearly in my mind and it is something that I will never forget.

Cindy, my dear mother-in-law, thank you for being my friend and for raising your son to be a Godly man. Thank you for teaching him how to love a woman. He couldn't have had a better mother. I am thankful every day for the man of God you trained him up to be and for our friendship. I look forward to eating Chinese and watching LOST, as we celebrate in style!

Now, let's talk about ME! ;-)

Olivia has been hiding some sort of present in my closet for 2 days. I still don't know what it is. I just know that it's there, it's a surprise, and I can't look. I accidentally glanced in there earlier today-either it's a coloring page, or there was an old bottle of my lotion rolled up in said coloring page. Guess I will find out soon enough.

Abbey worked fervently yesterday to finish a gift for me they started at school. I could hear her back there and she was so excited about it. I have already seen part of her present, which I will share with you in just a moment.

Katherine made a plate or something similar (I've only seen its outline and heard someone say the word "plate" thus far) in Girl Scouts. Can't wait to see that too!

Kaleb. Well...he's an enigma. He is a great boy, you know! I'm so thankful to have him in my life. Every year at GCA the students participate in Dierbergs' "I LOVE My Mom Because..." contest. I should note that Livvy's class either doesn't do this or it didn't get sent home and Kat said that she thought hers may have been chosen for the contest because she didn't get it back. Back to Kaleb. Have I mentioned that I LOVE this boy?? Kaleb is very smart and creative...and so you may notice the pattern in his. He wrote some reasons why he loves me, but he made sure that it was also an acrostic for the word LOVE.

"I love my mom because...

My Mom...

[is] Loveable

[she] Obeys God

[she] loVes to play with me, and

Expects me to love her back!

Love from,

Kaleb"

EXPECTS ME TO LOVE HER BACK??? When he first told me about it I just laughed. I thought it was AWESOME! Come to find out, he didn't mean it quite the way I thought he had. He meant it in a good way, though initially I thought "Oh how DARE I expect him to love me back!!" He didn't like that I was laughing, which communicated quickly to me that I had misunderstood his intention. He makes me smile.

Can we take some time to talk (yet again) about Abbey? That kid has this God-given ability to just fill you up with joy and laughter. I know I have said that many times before. She just proves it to me OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Her entry for the "I LOVE my mom because..." was long and downright funny!!! You ready for it??

"She's Good. She's my favorite mom ever. God made her. She made me too. My mom is pretty and she love me like I do too. She love's God and the king of Kings. She love to sing like me. She's just like me too. She keep a promise and I can too. She love to read the Bible. She nice. She likes some of her Brother toy's too. Now she has four kids and we love her. She will be my best mom ever and if I had a didn't have this mom I will say could I have that mom! If she said no I will ask my mom is she could babysit me. She will be my mom every day. I'm going to be a good mom like my mom. I love to do hug and kiss's with my mom. I'm nice like my mom too. I like art like my mom too.

Love from,

Abigail R. Bishop"

Don't hold her to grammatical perfection! I typed it like it was on the paper, which of course makes it cuter. And I really think that when she said "She made me too" she is indeed referring to me and not God. I don't believe she is calling God a SHE. I had to ask her what she meant by "She likes some of her Brother toy's too." She was basing this off of me telling her I used to play with GI Joe's with my brother!! She was so funny when she was explaining to me that if she had a different mom and she saw me on the street she would ask her mom if I could be her mom. If her mom said no, she'd still want me to be a part of her life!!! What a funny girl! Oh yeah...and I'm not really an artist, nor do I pretend to be one in real life. In fact, I don't draw or color with the kids. But hey...I'm not going to argue with her.

These are memories I will cherish forever. I can only hope and pray that my kids get to experience the same joy that they have brought to my life. Being a mother is by far the hardest, yet the most fulfilling, amazing thing I have ever done. I would not trade a minute of it for ANYTHING.

Katherine Grace, Kaleb Lee, Abbey Rose and Livvy Morgan...

Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!!!