Why I need a Mom...

Yesterday was Mother's Day...it was good. The girls lavished me with cards and gifts, as well as random hugs and screams through out the weekend..."Happy Mother's Day!" I spent a lot of the weekend thinking about all the reasons why I love being a Mom. And, all the reasons it absolutely scares me to death! This is the first Mother's Day that I have not spent with my own mother. It seems easiest to focus the day on her and the amazing job she does as a mom and "mimi." The best word to describe her is sacrifice. In every way and everything, she has always been willing to sacrifice, too much sometimes, for the sake of others, especially her children. It has always been easy for me to let go of the selfishness that sometimes can lessen the relationship between a mother and her little ones. I saw it played out for me a million times over each day of my life. I am proud to have inherited that quality from my mother. However, in many other ways, I feel so ill equipped as a mom. Yesterday, with the focus more on our immediate family as we went to church and celebrated this special weekend together, I thought more and more about what I am as a mommy. One of my devotions last week laid out scripture and certain prayers to pray over your children. I felt strongly about writing them down on my scripture cards and using them to pray for my girls by name. Even though some of them may not apply to their lives for a while I hope...I vow to start those prayers now too. I sometimes feel I cannot pray enough for your futures. This world today is full of so many choices...the most important way to protect you is my devotion to prayer. I am so glad God handed me a tool this week to strengthen my job as your mommy. At the National Day of Prayer service last week at the Courthouse while two of you little loves crawled around and played at my feet, God showed me I needed to step up my prayer time individually for each one of your lives. I love you each one so very much and enjoy each moment I have as your mom. I cannot wait for these next two weeks of school to be over so we have a couple of months of just girl time everyday. Oh my...what can we get into? I am excited to find out!

Oh, and back to why I need a mom...

as I was tucking you girls in last night, I explained that I was going to go call my mommy since I missed seeing her on Mother's Day so much. As I hurried down the stairs, I hear you both chatting. Ailee-"But you are the mom, you don't have a mom now. You take care of yourself with Daddy." Anna Grace- "Mimi is her Mom. She needs a mom to learn how to sew."

I love you, Mommy, for teaching me to sew and all the other amazing things you have taught me over the years. Most importantly, how to love my God and my family with unselfish measures...and, yes, I still have a lot to learn so don't go far!

One thing I love most about being your Mommy, Anna Grace, is how your beautiful blue eyes look straight into the heart of others and your sensitive, compassionate spirit loves them so sweetly!

Ailee, as your mommy, I have a blast! You play hard and fall hard too, so being your constant caretaker takes lots of energy! Your dark brown eyes show off your fun, free-spirited personality while revealing the depth of your emotions. You are the life of the party but would give it up in a second to help another around you in need. Like your Daddy, you can change any mood into a light-hearted good time! This year has brought many more grown up traits to you and I love watching the young lady you are growing into. You learn great things from your big sister but you pull out the fun side of her too! You girls are the best of friends and I LOVE just watching and listening from the sidelines!

Even thinking about the changes this year has brought as being your Mommy makes tears roll down my cheeks. Where did my baby girl go? You wish so badly to do all the things your sisters do that your baby tendencies are slowly falling away. It breaks my heart to see you pull up a chair to the table beside them...what am I supposed to do with the highchair? You are such a loving and friendly little lady. If you ever sense we are leaving somewhere, you immediately throw your arms open to give hugs, blow kisses and wave all the way to the car. You remind me to never leave a situation without showing love. I adore how you still cuddle in my arms to rock each day. I cannot wait to see your personality develop and change...right now, you melt my heart with just the puckering of those big, beautiful lips!

Just a few more shots we took while visiting Grammy yesterday!