Mother's Day Post that I LOVED!!!

I found this at the funcheaporfree.com blog and loved it - I love how some people can put things into words.  The link to it is at the bottom.  I shortened it and put in the parts that I really liked.




"Mother's day is a pretty big deal, I guess. It's a top day for flower sales, and the #1 day in the year for phone minutes used. If you're a mom people say "Happy Mother's Day" and send you a card, or give you a flower in church.

But why is Mother's Day a big deal REALLY?

I tend to down-play mother's day because I don't want my husband to feel pressure to make it this amazing, profound, and expensive day. I would tell him to "lighten up!" when he fusses that I'm not sleeping in long enough, shouldn't be helping with the dishes, or need to take a long bath.

Why?

I'm not sure exactly. I think deep down the reason I get a little embarrassed about all the fuss for Mother's day is because I think...

"I don't know what all the fuss is about...I'm just a mom."

But then I stop.

I look around my house.

I look into the faces of my children and think...

What exactly DOES it mean to be a mom?

Because I know plenty of people who were born by a "mom", yet have no mother figure in their life. And again, I know plenty of moms who have never given birth at all, yet are some of the best moms on the planet. So what does it mean to be a mom?

In today's trends and pop culture motherhood has been diluted. To be a stay-at-home mom is squashing your potential. To teach your kids in the home is unnecessary and socially damaging. To be gentle, nurturing, plain, frugal, happy, sweet, dedicated, and a full-time, no-holds-barred MOM is...

...well...uncool.

Being just a mom is boring, unfulfilling, plain, and full of a lot of downers.

Sleepless nights. Mom jeans. Heartburn and 9 months of agony. Messes and spit up. Diapers. Diapers. and more diapers.

Why would anyone do that to themselves? Subject themselves to such a boring life-sentence? Give up so much?

Why would anyone want to be...just a mom?

Because, to me, being just a mom is about...more.

More than changing thousands of diapers.

It's about more than cooking endless meals that no one seems to want to eat.

It's about more than pinching those annoying pennies!

It's about more than baths at the end of an exhausting day where I end up wetter than my kids.

It's about more than sacrificing a 6-pack stomach.

It's about the absolute miracle of growing a human from my own able core. About appreciating the cramps, kicks, and heartburn because it reminds me that I am a walking tool of God who has entrusted in me the responsibility of carrying and protecting a growing and blooming precious baby. It's about being grateful that I am blessed enough to get pregnant at all.

It's about more than having to stay home and sacrificing a career.

It's about wanting to stay home. It's about selling, giving up, and living without whatever it takes to be home. To be the one to spend time with, nurture, and teach my children like no one else can. About setting aside the things of the world for a few short years so that I can be apart of something bigger than myself that I CAN take with me when all is said and done.

It's about more than messy faces and sticky hands.

It's about more than not having much "me" time.

It's about sacrificing little bits of myself NOW in order to build a better future for myself, my family, and my world FOREVER. It's about being selfless and doing what I was put on this earth to do, 110%. It's about teaching my children that the world could use a little more selflessness, and that great things come from focusing on something other than yourself once in a while. It's about taking time to focus on "me" whenever possible, but learning to respect the beauty of service to others.

It's about more than lacking sleep.

It's about more than waiting out yet another epic toddler tantrum.

It's about teaching patience, humility, and delayed gratification to these precious beings who happened to be born into a world where everyone feels entitled and feels they deserve what they want, when they want it, how they want it. It's about learning that we don't always get what we want...and that it's ok.

It's about more than - literally - endless loads of laundry.

It's about more than exhausting effort to try to raise my kids right.

It's about teaching someone about someone greater than themselves. About presenting the world with one less eating disorder, gang member, or promiscuous  teen who is on the constant search to belong. It's about instilling self-confidence and respect for themselves and for a higher power that will be contagious and inspire those around them.

It's about more than passing on my last name and crossing "have kids" off the live to-do list.

It's about the endless, indescribable, unmatched joy and love that I feel for my kids. How every day, even years after their birth, I stare in awe at my little warriors and can't imagine how I could love anything so much. How I've never wanted to sacrifice so much for someone before. Do so much for someone. Be so much for someone. Feel so much pure, unbridled love from someone. It's about the "I love you mommy"'s and the sloppy kisses, and how those are the highlight of my week. About how I start to physically cry just thinking about the possibility of ever losing them. How having children has brought my husband and I closer than ever before; how united toward a common cause we are. How madly in love we are. How there has been nothing, is nothing, and will never be anything else in my life that could ever bring me such absolute...joy. It's about believing that being a mom is what I was put on this earth to do, and that there is nothing NOTHING matters more.

So I don't know about you, but I can't think of a single job, position, degree, award, or responsibility in the world that allows me to make more of an impact of importance...

or gives you greater return on your investment.

So, yes. I guess you could say that I'm just a mom.

And you know...
I'm kind of a big deal."

Read more: http://www.funcheaporfree.com/2012/05/more-than-just-mom.html