Mother's Day 2013

I had such a special Mother's Day this year. People celebrate Mother's Day in many different ways, but usually it's children and husbands being thankful for their mothers/wives. For me, this year though I felt completely overwhelmed with gratefulness to be these boys' mommy.

The Lord has blessed me abundantly by allowing me to be their mother, and I got emotional several times that day being so thankful to the Lord for blessing me with my two adorable baby boys. They are incredible.

This Mother's Day was extra special because we had our sweet Samuel dedicated to the Lord. Our pastor does a wonderful job with Baby Dedications. He makes them so personal and meaningful for each family. He talks about how a baby dedication is a three-fold process. Firstly, we thank the Lord for the gift of each child and how only He can give our child eternal life. He also addresses the parents of our responsibility to raise our children in a Christian home and to  instruct our children in the teaching of Christ and to provide a home life that honors the Lord. Finally, he addresses the church body to love and teach our children as we raise them.

 Our pastor takes each child in his arms and shares a blessing based on the meaning of their name. Samuel slept through the whole thing.

He wrote this for our precious new baby: "Samuel heard God's voice as a boy and led Israel throughout his lifetime. Jacob was one of the patriarchs of Israel. So Samuel Jacob, may you hear God's voice and turn to him at a young age and become a spiritual father to many over the course of your life."

Then he charges the parents and the church body and prays for our children. It was a special time for our family. What a gift Samuel Jacob is.

Matt's parents came up to celebrate Samuel's dedication with us, so after church we all had lunch at my parents' house. After lunch we went outside and watched Nathan play. It was a gorgeous day, and we all had a good time watching Nathan drive his car and play golf with Papa Joe.

Matt worked hard to help make Mother's Day special with a sweet card and a family photo session as a gift for me. He also watched Samuel that afternoon so I could get a good nap. Nathan wanted to stay and play at Grammy's house for most of the afternoon. Matt was nursery deacon that day, so he went to church Sunday night and took Samuel with him, so I could get a couple of hours to myself. I'm pretty sure that was the first time in 8 weeks that I was alone in our house. It was a nice break. It took all I had though to not do laundry or dishes. I forced myself to relax and watched a little TV and looked around on Pinterest for a little bit. Momma's need breaks sometimes. I'm so thankful to have had such a wonderful Mother's Day. It's never lost on me that Mother's Day can be a difficult day for many women for lots of different reasons. I'll never take my special day for granted.