SPENDING TIME WITH MY MOMS…

April 25, 2019

…My Moms

I’m taking a little pause on the Back Room Project the next couple weeks to focus on Mother’s Day preparations. But I can’t tell you what a difference has been made in that room.  Currently it’s still in what I call “PHASE 2”.  It’s been gutted, trashed, sorted, rearranged and put back together and it is now completely functional.  We’re all loving it!  I found so many things I forgot I had.  A lot of “someday” projects that we’re now able to work on…and it’s just fun to be in there.  “PHASE 3” will be making it beautiful but probably won’t happen until late May at the earliest.   I’ll share more later.

Back to Mothers…

I’ve been blessed, not only with my mom who is amazing and wonderful, but with a mother-in-law straight from Heaven!   We got to spend time with both of them in the last 2 weeks.  They came not only for Easter but also because Anni’s 8th Birthday actually fell on Easter this year.  (These moms are another reason I can do what I do.   Neither of them live here but they both visit pretty frequently and are so helpful when they come.  They delight my kids and BONUS:  They cook and clean! )

This is my favorite picture ever of my mom & dad…taken 10 years ago when the twins were babies.

And here they are being silly while we were out doing s’mores one night.

I’m thankful they’re retired and active and still in good health to travel to visit us.  We aren’t able to make it to Kentucky as often as I’d like.

My parents left on Monday before Easter and Jeremy’s parents arrived on Good Friday.

We all went to church together Easter morning and then also celebrated Anni’s birthday.

I asked for one thing, a family picture and you should see the duds we took until the dog got in the picture.  The kids finally started smiling!

While we’re talking about the dog, we started seeing a “Dog Whisperer” this week.    Charlie’s a great dog for us.  We love him and he’s very sweet with our family and the kids.  But we did not do a great job socializing him to strangers and other dogs as a puppy. Now at 2.5 years old, he seems to have a higher amount of anxiety than normal so she’s going to “help us help him”.   At a minimum we’re trying to teach him how not to bark like crazy at every person who walks past our house (which is A LOT…because we live right on a well traveled walking trail).. and at best we’d love to be able to take him to the dog park some day and see him have fun with other dogs.  I’ll let you know how that turns out.   Our first meeting went well.

Back to those momma’s.  I know that Mother’s Day isn’t always a joyous time for everyone out there.  There were many years I didn’t know if I’d ever become a mom.  And while I loved celebrating my Mom on Mother’s Day, I couldn’t help but feel the pain and uncertainty of not knowing if it would ever happen for me.  I haven’t forgotten.  I think there’s a reason why April and specifically this week, April 21-26,  is National Infertility Awareness Week.  In some ways it helps the infertile prepare for the approaching Mother’s Day.

I am 1 in 8.  Only by the Grace of God, working through physicians and extensive medical intervention, did Motherhood happen for me.  It took many years.  And it led it the start of GracefulWait Ministry here locally.  But there are also some wonderful National & Online ministries like Waiting in Hope that are starting all over the country and support is available.

During these next few weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, yes I’ll be promoting and selling so many wonderful handmade Mother’s Day gifts, (in fact we’re starting order taking for a few at the end of this email) but I’ll also be thinking of those of you who yearn for Motherhood, have lost your babies too soon, have an absent or plain ‘ole rotten momma, or have had to say Goodbye to your mom on this earth.  I see you.  And we’re here for you too.

This week has been off to a great start.  We’re OVER THE HUMP friends.  This morning we’re closer to the weekend than we are to Monday… and THAT is worth celebrating.

Sure hope to see you this week if you need something special for a new baby, your momma, your sister, your friend, or even your friend’s momma!