Mother's Day

Paul gave me a porch swing for Mother’s Day. I was Slightly Suspicious (there’s good reason I have a Mom proverb that says, "Moms know everything") but I wasn’t positive. Then I got up early and peeked out the office window and there it was.

I went out there for my devotions and it was perfect. Russell Gerig has been here almost daily, re-siding the house, and it is looking exactly like I wanted it to look, like a 1911 porch and not a 2005 porch, solid and white. I decided if Jesus came and sat beside me on the swing I would really be in heaven. I am so blessed.

Japheth Stauffer, whom I knew at Stirland Lake, Ontario when he was a small child, sent me something he wrote for Mother’s Day. I want to share a condensed version with you:

As I grew up, Mother was always something of a fixture. Just as you get light by turning on a light switch, so when you would get a skinned knee, Mother was there. When I would wake up in the middle of the night with a bad dream, or get hurt feelings when someone at school said something that wounded me, Mother was always there. It never occurred to me to wonder if she would have liked to be somewhere else, or if she would like to work at the job she used to. I felt that God must have given my mother to me instead of the other way around.
It had never occurred to me that it was a real chore to get up in the middle of the night with me and that the only reason was because you loved me. I never considered that maybe you would have liked to have a career outside of our home but you chose instead to do with a little less. I never realized that naps were just as much for mothers as for children, and often you needed more than we would allow.
You would always hug me so tight, and I didn't know it was because you didn't want me to grow up too fast, or that you knew all too soon, I would be gone. Mother was always someone we came home to! I never thought what it must be like for her to see her brood grow up and go away. I never thought about these things, they just were!

How amazing it is when children rise up and, instead of calling for Mom to make breakfast, they call their mothers blessed. Today in his blog post Matt included a little tribute to his mom and acknowledged the gray hairs he’s given me. It’s so cool when children finally "get it," although I don’t think Matt will truly get it until, like Japheth, he becomes a dad.

And, in the midst of porch swings and tributes to moms, my heart breaks for a woman I know who just lost her daughter to suicide. The girl was such a sweet little thing back when she was Matt’s classmate and Paul’s student. Mothering can be the most glorious job on earth and the most hideously painful.

Quote of the Day:
"Mom, I’ve always been so happy about you, that you’re such a special mom."
--Jenny