Mother's Day,
............................a day when many kind words will be said about many women. Words of encouragement, words of affirmation, words of thanks, and words of love.

I am thankful today for the woman who gave birth to me and for the many things she taught me but recently over the past couple of years I have become more aware of and blessed by the women God has placed in my life who have taken time to care, to encourage, to support, to advise.....not because it is expected of them, (as it would be if I were part of their family) because they chose too.

They sacrificed time and energy to share their wisdom with me. They humbled themselves to allow me to learn from their mistakes. And they gave me hope when the journey of turning small, needy, whining, people into men of God sounds overwhelmingly difficult.

To be taught by these women is a gift I can't repay. I can only give thanks for them, pray blessings on them and determine to one day "pay it forward."

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It was a wonderful day. I did not have breakfast in bed. I was not taken out for a gourmet lunch. The flowers on my table were my own grocery store purchase. But these are not the only things that can make a day special.

We were blessed to be surrounded by family and friends at church this morning as we Dedicated our sweet baby girl. Or perhaps more accurately, dedicated our feeble, faltering parenting efforts to the Lord. He can make good come of them!

We spent the afternoon picnicking in the sunshine. Since everyone pitched in with the food stuffs for lunch we ate well, and I got to enjoy the day too. I failed to calculate one little detail into my picnic plans though. This day is traditionally more about trucks than it is about mother's at our house, thanks to the annual Make A Wish convoy.

the husband's ride and joy!

 I am truly okay with this. I have no problem being honored and appreciated other days of the year and letting my husband enjoy the shiny rigs that get spiffed up and polished for his viewing pleasures. Typically, when we are involved in Baby Dedication at our church it means that he misses out on the parade though. But this year, it came to him. Yup, our rental house is right along the main highway that begins and ends the parade route. So they went right by, not once but twice. The perfect solution you would think, picnicking in the shade, enjoying tasty food and pleasant conversation while enjoying a little show from the convenience of you back yard.....OR NOT!!! I never once considered the fact that every one of those trucks, probably 200 or more of them would be blowing there horns.....not just a friendly toot, but a looonnnnngggg LOUD train whistle kind of horn blowing. It was a wee bit obnoxious and chaotic but we managed.

Us! (in real life!)

Us! after plenty of reprimanding and 100's of tries!

And at the end of the day, after little boys who have played outside all afternoon with cousins and uncles and daddy are bathed there is NO fight to get them to settle, they were asleep in seconds.
The house is quite. The mama is relaxed.

'And the evening and the morning were Mother's Day, and behold it was very Good!!"