They Call Me Mom

Vanessa ~ Brianna ~ Christina ~ James ~ Anna-Joy ~ Buddy ~ Duckie

We worked hard.

My girls have longed ago learned that 

Gifts of Service 

mean the world to me.

The lawns are mowed, 

weeds are whacked,

basement cleaned,

laundry folded, 

etc...

The little guys spent the day with their mom and I was able to make headway in reclaiming the house as well.

It feels good to have that much accomplished in one day.

The last few weeks I had been dragging from that sickness

and I was doing good to put one foot in front of another.

I kept saying,

"Do the next thing. Just do the next thing!"

I'm happy to report I'm over the hump and taking it up a notch.

My new line is:

"Do HARD things".

I told the girls the other thing that would please me much

would be a photo of the 5 of them that I could frame.

They dressed up and left for an our and came back with several different and interesting poses.

Motherhood feels like a bit of a conundrum.

I can't take a bit of credit for how well any of them turn out.

The good choices and the dedication of the big girls to God and His will for their lives

is despite my failings ~ and I am blessed,

and yet,

if we don't work our tail off on these next two

they haven't a chance in the world. . . 

I get it, of course.

Every which way you look at it

our reliance must be on God.

Speaking of the twins,

James decided to make me a treasure hunt for Mother's day.

I had to find his messages...

So cute.

 The green card was tucked into the cushions of the couch.

The yellow one on the dash of my van.

I got a text from an unfamiliar and extra long number yesterday.

Words I did not understand.

"Jenet wa mago namba yangu mpya. Its my new number."

I'm a little slow.  

Twenty-four hours later I finally figured out that

Jenet could be my mother, Janet,  who lives in the African village of Mago

where they speak Swahili.

So, I looked up the number and it is indeed from Tanzania.

She doesn't usually write to me in Swahili, though... ??

So, I wished her a happy mother's day and a happy birthday.

Love you,

MOM.