This Mother's Day - Ramblings From My Thoughts

As many of you know, this time of year holds many mixed emotions for me.  My thoughts recently have been around MJ's Birth Mother and the amazing gift she has given Me.  Parenting is hard.  Parenting a strong willed child, is HARD.  Most days, I feel like all I've done is followed my child around correcting him.  But there is this magic moment at the end of the day, when my world is always set right, no matter how great or awful I feel the day has gone, it always gets set back to right.  I'm reminded of the reason I fought so hard to become a parent.  It's that moment right before I go to bed, and I sneak into MJ's room to check on him and give him one last kiss before I head to bed myself.  Often times, this moment brings tears to my eyes.  And it's all because that perfect, little miracle calls me Mom. 

When he's sick - he comes to me.
When he's hurt - he comes to me.
When he's hungry - he comes to me.
When he's proud of himself - he comes to me.
When he wants to cuddle - he comes to me.
When he's scared - he comes to me.
When he's throwing a tantrum - he comes to me.
When he colors a picture - he comes to me.
When he needs paper to color on - he comes to me.
You get the picture.

And this is where my thoughts go back to his Birth Mother.  In all of those situations above, no one, not even Mother Teresa herself, is worthy of replacing me in my opinion.  No one knows Him like I do.  No one could replace me and do the job I'm doing.  I know God has chosen me to be MJ's Mom.  I know MJ's Birth Mother picked us to parent him.  But I still don't know how she made such a hard decision to allow anyone to parent her child for her.  I've gained so much strength through our journey, but I don't know that I'm that strong.  Tomorrow is Birth Mother's Day.  I don't feel Birth Parents get the respect they deserve.  If you know one, or know an adopted child, say a special prayer for his/her Birth Mother tomorrow.  I know I will.

Also, I haven't made it in to work much lately.  Lucky for me, I can work from home, but over the last two weeks, I've been to the office once.  Last week I didn't make it out of town due to flooding and traffic congestion.  And this week, MJ has been sick the last few days, so I've been home with him.  At first, I thought "this is frustrating," but lucky for me by boss is a Mom and understands.  And then I think, "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Even though seeing him sick breaks my heart, I wouldn't want anyone else to be taking care of him when he feels that way.  To me, that's what being a Mom is all about.  Simply being the one to give the medicine, the food, the water, the Kleenex, cleaning up, doing laundry, giving kisses, hugs and cuddles.  Being present.  Being consistent.  Being the nurse, maid, chef, taxi driver...giving.  Just giving of yourself to your child.  Even if you aren't perfect at the tasks, the recipient doesn't care.  They just want to know they can come to you with anything and everything.  And if you've been blessed to be someone's nurse, maid, chef and taxi driver, Happy Mother's Day to you!  And if you're still waiting...I know, I've been there too.  Don't give up hope.  You are not alone.  You are loved and prayed for.