I love Mother’s Day.
Last year I think I didn’t like it so much.  I was feeling so inadequate as a mother for whatever reason (I think we all go through those phases, right?)
But this year, although I still and always will feel inadequate in many ways (new problems and worries crop up all the time…and just when you figure something out, something else surfaces that you need to work on), I appreciated more than ever the process of motherhood.
Yes, that process of sometimes the boring and mundane, (waiting in carpool lanes, the never-ending routines, the waiting-up late, etc.) all mixed in with the triumphant and beautiful.
I get to mother these children of mine, and that adventure is something that will always and forever make my heart throb with deep gratitude:

Those three…and the ones who sent me pre-Mother’s Day pictures:

Elle, in the gorgeous chapel at the Jerusalem Center where I spent so many hours when I was her age.  But the real “gift” of this picture (according to her) was that she brushed her hair and was wearing mascara.  HA!  (She decided those two things, along with shoe-wearing, were for the birds over the last year, and we love to tease her about that 😉

Dave and I had a good pre-mother’s Day talk that I loved too:

…and Max sent me some pictures of his sparkling clean apartment:

Oh boy was that thing a little on the scary side when I helped him move into it a couple weeks before.
I think this year I was really focused on honoring those who mother rather than just trying to concentrate on my own mothering and it filled me with so much gratitude.
…which turned into love.  Mostly for my own mother and Dave’s mother.  For the sacrifices and work they have put in to raise contributing individuals I adore.
On the real-deal Mother’s Day morning Dave, Grace and I were in California.  We had been there for a good friend’s wedding, and Dave had to leave straight from there for a week in China.  
So Grace and I sent him off and flew home to Claire and Lucy who were waiting for us in the desert.

I left my purse on the plane, which created it’s own set of problems, but we got it, and seriously what greeted us were the two cutest girls ever.

Without Dave giving them any encouragement at all (at least this is what he claims…), this was waiting for us in the driveway when we got home:

(the pavement was too hot for Lucy’s bare feet)

We came in to find classical music (my favorite, and what I always having playing through the house on Sundays) wafting through the air, and they had set everything up with streamers and decorations, and were ready to make breakfast.

 Oh man, it filled up my heart.

They all got right to work whipping up my omelet Dave usually makes for me on Mother’s Day (and my birthday too).

Grace made that delicious thing and it was pretty tasty I have to say!

 At breakfast they presented me with some sweet cards and gifts:

(Claire told me that Lucy had refused to put the picture we had taken for Activity Days in that frame, and insisted that note should go in there instead.  Which was fine by me! 🙂

Church was awesome…especially because of the singing (listen to what they sang back HERE), and the messages were so good.

Then we came home to a house that was filled with good smells from the dinner Grace had prepared, and our traditional mother’s day pictures.

(These were actually requested by the girls…which was kind of sweet.) 

This girl prepped a delicious meal:

And we headed out, a little late so we could save ourselves from the oppressive heat, on our traditional Mother’s Day hike.

 We just did a really short one.

 This is how Lu felt about it:

 Oh wait, let’s get that expression right:

 There we go 🙂

 It was dark enough on the way down that Lucy couldn’t see at all, so this happened:

 …and I got a good workout in!

 We stopped by to give Nana hugs and each tell her a specific memory we have with her.

Then we called my mom en route home and shared some of our favorite memories with her as well.

So grateful for those grand mothers in my life. 

And that these children of mine enabled me to join in those motherhood trenches.

Those trenches that are harrowing and agonizing at times, but more often glowing and holy in so many ways. 

How grateful I am for motherhood!

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