The Sweet Moments of Motherhood

I love being a Mom! It is seriously a wonderful job! It was reiterated to me several more times in the past week and a half that I am a lucky, lucky woman.

After Evan came home from Kindergarten on Friday, during lunchtime, we got into a discussion about our bodies. Evan's had a bit of a cough, and during lunch he asked me, "Mom, why do we cough?" So, being the good mom that I am, I started into a long discussion on different organs in our body and how they work. We talked about little germs that get in our lungs and that we cough to get them back out. We talked about how the lungs fill up with air like a balloon and take oxygen to our heart, which carries it to our muscles so they can move. We talked about the two holes in our throats that go either to our lungs or to our stomach. We talked about how sometimes if we swallow wrong the water goes into our lungs and makes us cough a lot to get it back out. "Mom, but what happens if air goes down the other tube?" "Well, when air gets into our stomachs, then we burp," I told him with a smile. Evan thought this was hilariously funny and laughed about it for the next few minutes. And I had to stop after our conversation and say a quick prayer of gratitude for being a mom to such an inquisitive, bright, delightful little 5-year old boy!

I admit, I'm not always a great mom. After a long few days of working extra, trying to get into the new routine of school and work and practicing piano and homework, being a hormonal woman, having Vince in Vernal again for a few days, and having grumpy tired children and being a grumpy tired mom, I snapped one night at bedtime, frustrated that my children were being silly instead of going to sleep. I lectured them on why we need to go to bed on time so we're not all cranky the next day, and that I was tired and needed it to be quiet. They got the picture and were silent again when I shut the door. Relieved that it was finally quiet again, but having a pit of guilt in my stomach, I returned to folding laundry. I found a dress that needed to be hung up, but I didn't have any more little hangers. So I quietly opened the door to the kids' room to hang it up. In the dark, I caught a glimpse of my sweet Brookie, kneeling on her bed, eyes closed and head down. I stood for a minute watching her finish, thinking that in the chaos and hassle of getting kids to bed, I'd forgotten to remind them to pray. She looked up and smiled at me in that sweet forgiving way only children do, and said, "I was just saying my prayers. I say my prayers every night." A few tears filled my eyes as I hugged her and told her how proud I was that she always remembers to pray, and that hearing her say that was the best thing that had happened to me all day. That night I knelt by my own bed and expressed deep appreciation to my Father in Heaven for sending me such wonderful children who, even amid my shortcomings, are cultivating a relationship with Him. I am so grateful. I may not do everything right, but it is a great comfort to a young mom to see them learning good things.