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Mother’s Day

I can barely remember life before motherhood and it’s not just because I’m not as young as I used to be.  It is mostly because my children have captured my heart, my whole heart.  It is a love that I could never explain to anyone.  They, within just moments, can go from being my greatest source of heartbreak to being my greatest source of happiness.  My children are my legacy.  They are my greatest blessings.

These two girls…I can’t even describe how I feel about them.  I can’t even describe how I can still feel so physically connected to them, how I love them in the depths of my soul.  These two girls, who tonight, told us they were just going for a walk around the neighborhood and actually walked about three miles to/from TJ Maxx to get me one last Mother’s Day gift.  While it was not the best decision, it was extremely thoughtful (although we STRONGLY suggested they never do such a thing again).

I love you my precious daughters!

And then there is this little boy…I guess not so little anymore.  He did, after all, have his double digit birthday this year.  I may not be his biological mother, but I am extremely blessed to be able to call this child my step-son.  His hugs are not to be missed!  He is kind and caring.  I treasure every moment that I have with him.

I love you sweet boy!

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I will do this quickly since this is getting to be a long post…I have to brag on my family for a moment!  They did such a wonderful job of helping me to celebrate Mother’s Day (for the better part of two days!).

Yesterday morning, I got to have breakfast in bed.  We ran the Race for the Cure this morning.  That would have been way to early for breakfast in bed!  It was simply wonderful.

Yesterday afternoon, my husband purchased and assembled my gift:

It’s so stinkin’ cute (sorry Suzanne, I had to borrow your line)!  I just love it!  I love that you sit straight up when you ride it.  It’s just plain ol’ fun!

Then this morning, we began the Race for the Cure together.  The even bigger part of that blessing was that my prince charming stayed back with our little one so that Sydney and I could run the race together.  It was awesome!  I will tell more of that story here tomorrow.  After, we showered up and attended our church service.  I have to give kudos to our very own Pastor Jerry.  It was one of his best sermons!  I LOVED it!

The rest of the day has been very relaxing…a nice lunch out, a little rest at home, a few more gifts from my children and a lovely dinner prepared by my own personal chef aka my husband!

I will leave you with this.  This is what was written in the Hallmark card from my children:

“Mother’s Day is a chance for us to treat you like a queen.”

“A queen with really lazy subjects who don’t listen very well.”

Gotta love their sense of humor!

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Time Somebody Told Me

My daughter Sydney wrote this poem for school.  It was just so good, I had to share…

Time somebody told me

That I am caring, loving and trustworthy

That I am happy inside

If they only knew

How that would effect me

 

Time somebody told me

That my mind is overflowing, crazy and full

That I should keep going and never stop

 

Time somebody told me

How they cared and loved me

How my heart is huge and my arms are loving

How good they feel when I hugged them with care

 

Time somebody told me

 

So, I had a talk with myself

Just me, nobody else

‘cause it was time

somebody told me.

-Sydney Harper

 

I love you Sydney…just in case no one has told you!

Happy Birthday My Precious Girl

Sydney, I know you make fun of me when I get so emotional about you getting older.  I don’t even care.  I love you and can’t stand the thought of you getting old enough to be on your own.  I’m learning that time goes very quickly and we are only four short years away from you wanting your independence.

I am incredibly proud of who you are!  I love your heart for Jesus and your desire to share His truth with others.  I love how caring and compassionate you are, truly concerned for other’s well-being.  You are a good example for those around you. 

Happy Birthday!!!  I love you sweet daughter!

A Marriage Transformed

When I married my husband eight years ago, I would have never imagined that I could ever love him as much as I do today.  There are many books written about marriage.  There are very sad statistics about the success of marriage, which are even worse when it is a second marriage.  None of those things matter once you commit your marriage to God.  Surrendering everything to Him has completely transformed our relationship and how we feel about one another.

Bill, I love to be silly with you.  I love to relax at the end of the day with you.  I love to raise our children together.  I love to spend precious devotion time with you and praying together.  Thank you my darling husband for sharing with me the eight most transforming years of my life.  I love you with all of my being. 

*On a side note, I searched for quite a while and only found this picture of the two of us.  So…it might be time for some photos babe!  I guess once I became a photographer, it meant that I stopped being in our photographs.

My Own Little Ramona

How many of you grew up reading Beverly Cleary books?  I personally loved her and Judy Blume.  Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret was what aided me through my adolescense.

A few months back, Ramona and Beezus was made into a movie. 

The girls and I went on a fun mother-daughters date.  I loved it as much as they did.  The characters are similar in age to my girls and have some of the same interactions.  In particular, the similarities between London and Ramona are astonishing to me.  It felt at times that Beverly Clearly could have based this book on my girl, although it was written a few decades prior to her birth.

There is a scene where Ramona, very seriously, tells her family that she is going to say a bad word and that it’s going to be REALLY BAD!  Her word…GUTS!  At that her family laughs at her only to leave her feeling angrier.

Last night, my husband and I had a similar experience with London.  We were playing around with her a little before bed.  She was sitting on the top bunk of her bunk beds while we were trying to get one of the zillion toys away from her that she sleeps with each night.  It was fun at first until we had retrieved most of her toys and she knew she was losing.  This is how it ended…  “I can scream really loud.  And I’m going to do it right now.”  She paused briefly to see how we would react to such a bold statement.  Bill and I both stared at her with sober faces, somewhat in disbelief.  She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs for about five seconds.  I had to leave the room because I was laughing so hard.  I know that it was naughty, which I why I left the room.  But even now, as I write this, it makes me laugh. 

The game ended.  We kept the toys as a punishment for that behavior.  She slept soundly until 7:00 this morning when her alarm woke her.

The End!

Harper-Anderson Foundation

No…this isn’t a legitimate organization.  And no…this isn’t a suggestion for you to send me requests for money.  It is an idea that I’ve taken from our pastors.  Aside from our tithe and other charitable commitments that we have, we will be choosing one organization per month to support.  The decision makers will rotate between family members so that our children will also be involved.  The decision maker will be required to pray about different giving opportunities and make a decision based on where they feel God is asking us to give.

The Hold in Our Gospel has been such a convicting series.  I truly pray that more people will at least read this book.  We live in such a blessed nation and have so much to offer whether we realize it or not.

How is your family generous?  Which charities or organizations receive the benefit of your charitable giving?  I would really love to know!  We have a lifetime ahead of us of having to decide where we should send ours…