the most important work

Mother's Day had a whole new meaning this year. For I am a mother. How odd. I don't feel like one. This lady is one. A good one. She is a wonderful gift-giver & can make the best peach custard pie ever. She can sew like no one's business & tries her best to make everyone happy. She wears her gray hair with dignity. I'm just now beginning to realize her selflessness & the sacrifices she's made as a single mother of seven. Will I ever really understand the daunting task of raising seven children alone? Probably not. I wish I would've been more appreciative & grateful to her. I am now. Though I still don't tell her often. But Mother's Day is a reminder. So, thank you, Mom, for all you've done, all you do, and all I know you will continue to do. 

 And now I'm a mom.
 I don't feel like one.
I don't know what I'm doing.
Dar will ask me what's wrong with Fiona if she's crying, & if it's not hunger or a messy diaper, I don't know what to tell him. There are times I look at her helplessly, at a loss of what to do. I get a little frustrated sometimes that my day's accomplishments consist of getting the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher. And this is the easy part. What will I do when she starts sassing me? When she tells her first lie? When she (help!) turns into the teenager I was?!
But, to be a mom...it is what I've always wanted. Even if I didn't always realize it.
It is the most challenging task I've ever undertaken. Because it is requiring everything of me, unconditionally, & the end result is the soul of another. I've never done anything so important & terrifying in all my life.

"Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work."

-C.S. Lewis

Here I am, with my most important work. Under a hanging basket her dad picked out as a gift for my first mother's day. In keeping with what his mother always got. I expect there are are many hanging baskets in my future:). I also got to sit back & watch while breakfast was made for me. Crepes. Made fresh: as soon as I finished one, he flipped another on my plate. My favorite. I couldn't be more pleased with this Mother's Day.