Happy Mother's Day!

In China, there are two women who gave birth to two little baby girls just over 11 years ago.

Because of their circumstances they were unable to keep their daughters.

BUT because of their love they placed their daughters where they could be found.

And because of this, I am a mom. I hope I can provide the love and care these mothers wished for their children when they made this heart wrenching decision, to help them develop into the people their birth mothers hoped and dreamed for them.

Last weekend when we were in ER with Mom, I simply could not allow myself to even conceive of the idea of something happening to Mom. My mom has been with me through some very difficult times. She spent a LOT of nights perched on a radiator/air conditioning unit when I was having brain surgery. Most recently she spent two nights in uncomfortable chairs in our hospital after my surgery. But with her there, I knew I was taken care of and could rest.

She is also the best grandmother in the world and I am glad to be a mom so she can be a grandmom AGAIN! Not that she has a lack of great grandchildren, but living next door provides plenty of opportunity to spoil her closest two!

And they love her and tend to her making sure she is taken care of! Annabel has started grabbing her by the arm and walking her to and from the car. And when Annabel has a hold of you, you know it! Tonight Mom cooked dinner and I left Annabel to help clean up the dishes, while I cleaned up a project we had started, and Grace did homework. Annabel banned Mom from her kitchen and jumped in unloading and reloading the dishwasher.

Marcie, my niece, and her husband Drew, had everyone to lunch at their house. What a fantastic treat! The food was delicious and we enjoyed all being together. Mark and Martha surprised me with a Starbucks gift card. MY FAVORITE!!!

My only gift I wanted was a nap this afternoon. Although I had one, there was more than one time I was woken up by the very loud whisper of "MOM" followed by something terribly important. Then the dogs came through several times barking, and then I decided to give up!

Saturday was supposed to be our biggest event of the year. Last week at this time all the news was still around the swine flu, so I chose to postpone it. So it was very strange to be off on a day that is usually so busy that I want to sleep through Mother's Day.

The girls were registered for another class at Lowes and made cute planters for Mother's Day. Since Dad was with us, we made REALLY QUICK trips to the dollar store and Ross, but spent plenty at all locations!

Mom wanted and needed a new sweater. I had almost bought one last weekend but at Ross found I could get 3 for the same price as one! Sounds like a commercial. Since I was in a hurry and found lots of good choices, all on sale, I just bought them all! Now hopefully she won't be cold.

We managed to fit in a trip to Sam's and then dinner at El Fenix, before I finished the day off with mowing our yard. It was a great day with lots accomplished.

The previous week was difficult, waiting to hear the test results for Mom and in the meantime I began throwing up after every meal, which gets old in a hurry. I now know what an upper GI is (Yuck), with the result being the need for the other part of the surgery needed much sooner than expected.

Thank goodness there are only 3 weeks and 3 days left of school. I am anxious to see what the plans are for Annabel to learn everything before the end of school.

Today Grace asked what I used to do on the weekends before I became a mom. I simply cannot remember, but guessing it was not nearly this much fun! She also commented that Marcie and Drew's house was a lot cleaner than ours. Surely not! She said there just wasn't as much stuff in their house. I explained that with kids it does add to your house. She wanted to know if I was disappointed that ours looked like it did. I told her I would not change it for anything!