Mother's Day: Sweet blessings and the broad spectrum of "Mom"

For my mothers day gift Gentry wrote me a song, but of course could not perform it because "I am not a performer", but luckily he has a dad who can strum the guitar and sing, so they make a pretty good team.  

"We love you Mom"

Lyrics By Gentry Swanson

Performed By Jeff Swanson

*My favorite thing about my mom, is when she takes me to school.

If she did not take me to school, I wouldn't know a thing.

Cause we love you mom

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

Yes we love you mom

My mom is very funny, when she tickles me,

She's really nice because she does everything for me.

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

This Mother's Day I'm gonna make you feel great

Like bake you a cookie cake, I love you mom.

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

And we love you mom

Love you mom

I am also 30 weeks pregnant on this Mother's Day!!  Eeeeks I can't believe in 10 short weeks (give or take) I will be the mother of 2 and mother of a girl!!  So for my last Mother's Day being only Gentry's mom I thought I would reflect on some of the reasons I am so thankful to be your mom sweet boy!

1.  You showed me more than anything else that has happened in my life, that God knows me so much better than I know myself.  You have been and always will be the greatest surprise of my life!

2.  Your a boy after my own heart and I "get" this side of you:  Your an introvert but you love people, you wear you heart on your sleeves (actually you kinda hide it until we have long talks where you spill your little heart out about how your feeling), you love to cuddle, you love reading Harry Potter with me, you have crazy wild hair like me and a crazy wild spirit like your dad, you love sleep :), your funny, loving, caring, and compassionate for others, you know how to work the system giving me hugs and kisses when you really want to do something (I'm okay with you working it, cause I know those sweet kisses and hugs will get further and far between and so I cherish every one, even if there is alternative motives behind them).

3.  Your a boy after dad's own heart and he "gets" this side of you:  You love the water from morning till night you could be in the ocean (much of the time farther out than I would appreciate, but again this is the side dad gets), your a true little artist, bodily functions and the word poop is your normal daily vocabulary for many things that have nothing to do with poop or bodily functions, showers are a bit overrated right now, underwear is optional on most days, and letting Molly eat the crumbs off your stomach while you lay on the floor watching TV is a perfectly acceptable mode of "cleaning up".

4.  You have been an only child for almost 9 years and in all honesty I have loved every minute of having just you for that time!  What a blessing it has been to be able to be available to you and love on you for a full 9 years before a little sis finally comes into the picture!  And just in time as you don't need mom quite as much as you used to :)

5.  Your you.  I smile (most of the time) when you remind me "mom you said it's important to be me, and that's just what I'm doing", because it's true, I simply just love you and love being your mom.  Sure there are days that I wish so bad you would go along with a hair cut and let me brush it and make it all "nice" for school, or I wish you would be a little more friendly to people you don't know as well, but at the end of the day, I love you, and I love that your you crazy hair, introverted, sweet smiling surfer boy Gentry David and I would never want to change anything about you (except a hair cut...I'm just kidding let the crazy curls fly!)!

6.  You daily push me to seek the Lord more and more.  Often times it's because I don't know what the heck I'm doing!!  Whether it's me losing my tempter cause I just need you to remember all 7 provinces of Costa Rica and the 4 important facts about them (and I'm so tired and pregnant for heaven's sake), you loosing it cause something messed up on your video game and your convinced it's the end of the world or you don't get to play with friends at the exact moment you would like to, us laughing in your bed cause Dudley Dursley got what was coming to him from Harry Potter, you telling me you forgive me after I've lost it about the dang provinces, sitting at the table as you tell us about your day, or me being able to listen and extend grace to you after a rather ridiculous meltdown, I am daily reminded that you are and will always be an intricate part of my journey to know the Lord more, and without you, I would not be the women/mom I am today.  Through the good, the bad, and the ugly I truly love being your mom, thanks for being apart of my journey to know Christ more deeply. 

As G and Jeff sang their sweet song, and I thought about all the reasons I love being a mom and how blessed I have been, I was also reminded of how sometimes we don't always get what we want, or it doesn't look like we thought, or we regret choices we made.  I think Mother's Day can be one of those days for many of us women.  Sure it's a great day to celebrate moms!  We are pretty awesome right?  But what about the women who don't fit the traditional definition of "mom", but are still pretty awesome too????  

 I came across this great blog that talked about the different "mother roles" and how they can all be honored.  As great of a day Mother's Day is, it can also be a day that brings pain and disappointment to women in different situations.  The list was so great I thought I would share it.  To all "moms" in different stages, whatever your "mom" role is/was/wants/wishes to be, tomorrow is for you and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, abortions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren -yet that dream is not to be, we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

To those who placed children up for adoption — we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

- See more at: http://timewarpwife.com