Seasons of Motherhood.

Mothers day is just around the bend and I thought this year I would do my Mothers Day Post before it gets here.

My sister just had her first baby, and I know many that are in the trenches of early childhood, hopefully this post can be an encouragement to you. There is always another mom who has walked the path before you. I am always thankful for my friends who are older moms that can comfort me in the stage I am currently in. So next time you see a mom with a screaming child in the grocery store don't distract your eyes look right at her and give her a smile or a simple I remember those days, it gets better:) This is what I do. Sometimes we all need a cheerleader. And its not like your child never threw a colossal fit in the middle of Target when you wouldn't let them get play doh (maybe its just me:).

One of my all time favorite pictures of my monkeys, aren't they cute. This was one of the ways we got through our day when I was in the trenches, it was always the last thing we did before Daddy got home from work, and it was so much fun. DOn't you just want to chew on Grace's arms, I do and I did:)

There are so many seasons we go through as mothers and the seasons are different from child to child and stage to stage.

There's the season of holy moly I'm pregnant. That stage was especially real for me when I found out I was pregnant with Elliot. After two weeks of having the "flu" my Mom pointed out to me that I was a married lady and married ladies get pregnant sometimes:) Elliot was the greatest "flu" bug I have ever had even if the flu lasted for the 15 months I was pregnant with him.

There's the awestruck bewilderment of the first moment you lay eyes on their precious little faces and you realize that they are yours (well kinda yours...more on that later). And that a miraculous God used your body to harbor this sweet tiny being to grow and form into a fully complete and beautiful baby. It will be your smile that makes your cheeks hurt and your tears that fall from your eyes in amazement, because you are their mom.

There are seasons of no sleep, endless diapers, coughs, colds, runny noses, spit up, blow outs,teething, firsts and fits:) It will be your tears that fall from worry and exhaustion because you are their mom:)

There are seasons of firsts, steps, words, outings, holidays, birthdays and what not. You will be the one that gets to experience these and fell your heart burst when they smile:)

There are first bumps, bruises, cuts, scrapes...if you have an Elliot ER trips (yes that would be purposefully plural), owies to kiss and band aids to place even if there isn't any blood. With this comes the beginning realization that you aren't able to protect them from everything they will encounter in this world because its big and scary and unpredictable. But they are your kisses they need and your fingers are the ones that place the bandaids.

There are first days of school, first school bus rides, sleepovers, and broken hearts on the playground. Your heart will break the first time they get their feelings hurt, but hopefully its you they come to reassure them that everything will be ok, why because you are their mom:)

In some seasons of motherhood we can feel the mundane, we can feel a lack of purpose, we can feel forgotten and under appreciated. We don't like to admit these feelings but its there and its ok.

However, we are also the ones that get to be used by God to grow up these tiny beings into young men and women that hopefully hold God in their hearts and walk from day to day with purpose and strength and the knowledge that not only does God love them but they have a mother that holds them in her heart always with prayers and the knowledge of how they became who they are now to be.

Its a gift and a honor to be a mother, That God would entrust you with one of His own to hold and love and nurture. It is an honor because they don't belong to us as much as we would like to think they do. They are ours on loan until we all reach our eternal destiny. And we have a God given power to mold and to shape these little people in what they are to become, to lead them into the promise.

I am constantly reminding myself that my love for my children should be much like Christs love for me, one that is unconditional, one that teaches, one that comforts, and one that is ever present.

We are so blessed as mothers to be able to accept a calling that is so full, I am so grateful for the way I can look at their little faces and be instantly reminded of how much they have grown already and how much God has already blessed them, protected, loved and fought for them. They are walking little testaments of God's faithfulness to them and to me.

Happy Mothers Day, and to all of you who aren't mothers surely you know someone that is, give them a hug, tell them you love them.