Celebrating Motherhood & Some Give Aways!!!

I've been a mama for twelve years.
In six years, my oldest, Luke, will be eighteen.
This means I'm not a "young mom" anymore.  I think it means I'm a full fledged, seasoned mom.
I guess this also means I'm not a girl anymore. I am, in fact, a woman.
I always thought the seasoned moms had arrived.
Let me assure you that they haven't because I still feel as clueless as I did when I brought Luke home.

Anyway, I don't know if you're weird like me,
but I rarely ever feel like one of the moms being celebrated on Mother's Day.
I get lost in honoring my own mom, and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm deep in the trenches of mothering these babies of mine that aren't quite babies anymore.
It's wonderful and amazing and such a gift from God, but it's also hard.
There.  I said it.
Every season of mothering has been wonderful and amazing and hard.  All at the same time.
And can we all just admit that all those emotions at the same time make you feel a little crazy?
We're all on the same page?  good.

I celebrate my own mom because she made it.
She saw me through those sleepless nights as a baby.
She survived the hardest years in her marriage while learning to balance motherhood & marriage.
She didn't die when she left me on the first day of kindergarten.
She helped me grieve the death of a friend the day after 6th grade graduation.
We both survived junior high.  Whew!
Of course, I fell in love the first week of seventh grade with a boy I just knew I'd marry.
She endured me loving that boy for too many years to count!

She bought me that first dooney & bourke purse that I had to have.
She paid way too much money for prom dresses.
She made homemade biscuits for the entire football team on game days.
She made our home the one that all my friends wanted to come to.
She always stocked the pantry with all the best snacks.
We ate her out of the house nearly every weekend and she never complained.

Oh, what a wonderful mother she has always been.
She had homemade goodies every single week.
She cooked home cooked meals every single night.
She made curtains for the play house that was really just our old pig pen.
She worked her fingers to the bone in our garden every summer.
She took us swimming in the summer and made snow ice cream in the winter.
She did my laundry for far too long.
She cried when I needed her to cry and laughed when I needed her to laugh.
She also gave me a firm talking to when she needed me to listen and learn.

I appreciate my mom more than she will ever know.
She constantly reminds me that mothering was wonderful and amazing and hard for her, too.
She assures me that all moms feel every emotion known to mankind all at the same time.
She tells me every single time she gets a chance what a fantastic job I'm doing with my babies.
She encourages me and challenges me and pushes me onward.
She reminds me on the wonderful and amazing days to soak it all up and take it all in.
And on those hard days....she tells me it's normal and that tomorrow is another day with new mercies.
She's also been known to remind me what she survived in mothering me!

There are days in mothering when we wonder if we'll survive our kids.
And there are other days, more days, when we wonder if they'll survive us.
 This mothering is made up of a whole lot of thriving and surviving.
It's wonderful and amazing and hard...all at the same time.
I celebrate my sweet mom because she made it!


It's time to celebrate all of you ROCKSTARS who are thriving & surviving!!

I am excited to be part of celebrating all of YOU mamas out there.
It's almost MOTHER'S DAY!!
And you know that all of us are mamas to somebody, right?
If you've got neighbors or nieces and nephews or students that you love like your own, then
this is for you.
Courtney from Lil Light O' Mine wanted to honor and celebrate mothers for the next couple of weeks.
And, she asked me to join her and a few others in doing a week of give aways!
Please visit her blog to read the sweet message she wrote just for YOU.

I'm honored to give one of you our "You Are My Sunshine" sign.
I think most mothers have spent countless hours singing this song to their babies!

I'd love for you to enter to win.
Simply leave a comment telling me something motherhood is teaching you.
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL IF YOU AREN'T A BLOGGER!! :)
I'll post the winner on Friday, May 4th!

Here's a list of the give aways this week::

Monday, April 30 ( Lil Light O' Mine & Lay Baby Lay)

Tuesday, May 1 (Between You & Me & Lil Light O' Mine)

Wednesday, May 2 (be{tween} Collection & Sarah Jane Studios)

Thursday, May 3 (Carol&Company & Lil Light O' Mine)

Friday, May 4 (Cabell's Designs & Noonday Collection)