Wow! What an amazing Mother’s Day it has been. I am so blessed to have the three most beautiful girls in the world and a wonderful hubby too. I must admit though…it has been one of the most emotional Mother’s Days I have had in a very long time.
It actually started late last night when our nephew, Luke Nathaniel, was born. I was one proud aunt when he came into this world as handsome as anything I had seen. After getting to bed super late last night, I woke up to breakfast in bed served by some very excited girls. We ate breakfast together talking about the day and everything we had planned. After they left my room to get ready for church the multitude of emotions started stirring. I wasn’t prepared for all of the thoughts and emotions that would swarm my mind throughout the entire day. I want to share them with you as a special tribute to all of the moms out there.
Did you know there are different levels of motherhood? (This isn’t anything researched or scientifically documented. I just made it up, so bare with me. LOL) All day today I have thought about the different women in my life and the different levels of motherhood they find themselves in. I’ll start with the obvious levels that I immediately thought of this morning. These women are those who have given birth to a child and celebrate today with their biological children. Some of them are at the beginning level because this is their first Mother’s Day. I have several friends that are at this level and it is so exciting to celebrate with them. There are also those women who have celebrated several Mother’s Days over the years with their children and each year it gets more and more exciting to see how their children are going to honor them. Then you have the women whose children are grown and are having children of their own. They are now at a totally different level because they get to celebrate Mother’s Day as a mom as well as a grandma. Wow! Talk about a blessed woman!
Then my heart began to think about the women who were celebrating Mother’s Day here on earth while their child or children are celebrating in heaven. I can’t even begin to imagine how that must feel and I am not going to even attempt to put into words where my heart went as I prayed for these Mothers on this day. Some of the women I thought of lost their baby before they ever had the chance to hold them. Others lost their child while they were very little and never got to see them grow or walk or lose their first tooth. Some lost their child after only a few short years of being their mommy. And yet others lost their precious child later in their life, but still sooner then they were prepared for. All of these women deserve to be honored in a very special way. My heart aches for them.
The next group of mothers that were on my heart this morning was the “expecting” mothers. This has become a very real and exciting level of motherhood in our family, as my sister and brother-in-law just found out they are expecting their first child in December. I was so excited to send her a text and wish her a Happy “Expecting” Mother’s Day as she celebrates spending the next couple of months bonding in a miraculous way with her ‘Lil Peanut’. Needless to say, I am SO excited!!!! I have several friends and family members who find themselves in this level of motherhood and I can’t help but bubble up with joy for them. It was so cool to start the day off with the memory of being there last night when little Luke was born. What a wonderful Mother’s Day present he was for my sister-in-law.
As I sat in Sunday School this morning, my heart immediately began to think about some precious women who find themselves at a different level of motherhood. I call this the “promised” level or the “longing” level of motherhood. My heart is burdened for those women who know God has promised them a child and they long for the day they will become pregnant and His promise is fulfilled. We read about Hannah this morning and the prayers she would pray to God during her barren time. She was such a faith filled woman, yet she struggled emotionally with the fact that she had not been able to get pregnant. I immediately began praying for very specific people in my life and I prayed Hannah’s prayer over them. Once again, I can’t imagine how they must be feeling today of all days. In my mind they are still mothers and they still deserve to be celebrated. Faith is “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.” The women I am thinking of know they have been called to be a Mommy and their hearts are already filled with so much love for their children. They don’t have the evidence of their faith yet, but I know we serve a God who is more than able to do above anything we could ever imagine. Will you pray for these precious women today and everyday? They deserve our prayers and they definitely deserve to be celebrated today.
Another level of motherhood I thought of today was a very special one to me. These are the moms who know there is a place in their heart that could only be filled by the adoption of a child. They understand that their child may not have been conceived in their womb, but they can tell you the moment their child was conceived in their heart. These are the moms who didn’t give up on the search and sacrificed so much in order to bare the title Mommy. They may not have given birth to the child, but they know beyond a shadow of a doubt, they are exactly who God planned to be the mother of their child/children. Although I do not have my boys in my arms yet, I know that this is a level I long to be at.
The last level of motherhood I thought of today is linked very closely to the previous one. The precious women who find themselves at this level will forever be my heroes. They are the women who know they were not meant to raise the child they carried for nine months and they choose to give that child an amazing gift…a forever family. I have to admit…my heart went out to the women at this level of motherhood in a very special way. I don’t know the exact scenario or situation that will present itself when it’s time for us to get Josiah and Jeremiah. However, I know that I will love their birth mom with a love I can not even begin to imagine right now. You see, my vision goes beyond just getting our sons. I want to minister and love on the ladies at this level of motherhood in a very tangible way. I want to be a blessing to them and a refuge when they don’t know where else to go. Oh how I long for the day when I can open the House of Pearls. (More to come on that at a different time.)
By the end of the day I was an emotional basket case. I had literally been all over the map with my emotions and yet in a very peculiar way I was so grateful for the epiphany the Lord had showed me today with all of these "levels". I realized that He loves Moms so much and that He is the One who gives them the strength they need to do all of the amazing things they do. I realized that this Mother’s Day I find myself in a few different levels of motherhood. I am so blessed to have three biological children who knock my socks off everyday with the blessing they are to me. I find myself excited and longing for the day my boys will be home and our family will be complete. I am anxious to see how God is going to use me to help young mom’s who know adoption is the plan God has for them and their unborn baby. Until then, I am going to continue to pray for all of the moms I know at all of the levels I have just described to you. I am also going to hold on to the promise of Josiah and Jeremiah! One day my heart will be complete.
Thanks for reading. Keep praying for all of the Lil ones that we have encountered along our adoption journey. Especially pray for Lil Ohio and Lil Sinclair. Hopefully I will have more information on both of these lil ones soon that I can share with you. Until next time…be blessed!
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