My momma... and my children.

I am so excited!!! My momma is coming to visit me. She is AMAZING!

This was the week before they left for an 18 month mission to the Congo, Africa. They came home for 18 months, and now are headed for another 18 month mission this time to Kinshasha Africa.

She always seem to have time for Cole. He is a wonderful handful, who demands a lot of time and energy. I am so thankful for the love she has for him, and all 20 of her grandbabies!

I love how Sheri Dew explains the different roles of motherhood. She said:

" ...While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord’s language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve “the mother of all living”—and they did so before she ever bore a child. Like Eve, our motherhood began before we were born. Just as worthy men were foreordained to hold the priesthood in mortality,righteous women were endowed premortally with the privilege of motherhood. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature, and the unique traits our Father gave us...

...Motherhood is not what was left over after our Father blessed His sons with priesthood ordination. It was the most ennobling endowment He could give His daughters, a sacred trust that gave women an unparalleled role in helping His children keep their second estate. As President J. Reuben Clark Jr. declared, motherhood is “as divinely called, as eternally important in its place as the Priesthood itself.” (Are We Not All Mothers, Ensign. Nov. 2001)
  (Brighto and Me 2003, my first baby. I can't tell you the joy I had when he finally came into our lives. It seemed like we had waited forever. Thank you birth mommy Annette and birth daddy. Your gift of creation made my dreams come true.)

Some other thoughts I love from Stephanie Dibb Sorenson, author of "Covenant Motherhood."

 The premise of her book is that motherhood, in all its many facets,  is symbolic of Jesus Christ. Mother's through the work they do-- creating, teaching, succoring, providing, cleaning, defending, loving, forgiving, and saving-- are mirrors of the Savior and His mission on the earth.

One of her last paragraphs in the books reads:

" Motherhood is a monumental investment, and sometimes our offerings don't make sense in the moment. When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden and began their mortal life as parents, they made sacrifices and offering to the Lord. They did so to be obedient, but they didn't really understand why. The angel taught Adam that these things were "a similitude of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth." So it is with motherhood. Much of what we do as mothers is an offering to our families and to our Heavenly Father because, like Adam and Eve, we love them and want to be obedient. Repeated offerings require sacrifice-- big and small, some daily, some deep. All of these offerings are symbols of our Savior and are meant to point us to Him." pg. 96

Motherhood is a monumental investment, and sometimes our offerings don't make sense in the moment. I love this! It gives me hope that my efforts are making a difference in these amazing lives I have been given to help shape. 

I can't even begin to count the miracles I have witnessed in this little man's existence. He is truly a modern day stripling warrior!
  
  Heather, the author of womeninthescriptures.blogspot.com writes, "I really enjoyed reading all of Stephanie's insights into how motherhood parallels the Saviors ministry and His atonement. I think that her book would be a big eye opener for mothers who are struggling to find purpose behind what they are doing. I think that many of us got into the mothering job because we want to be obedient to the instructions the Lord had given us, but like Adam, may not really understand the full magnitude of what we are engaged in. I know that reading this book has helped me be approach several aspects of my mothering-- especially my housework and chores-- with more spiritual eyes... which is good because I need all the help I can get on that front!"

" I had always thought that the concept of creation in womanhood was intrinsically tied to a uterus and reproduction and all the other wonders of baby-making. And it is, but that is not the only way in which we are creators. During a general Relief Society broadcast in 2008 President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught that creation "is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come." I began to realize that motherhood-- all of of motherhood, not just the childbirth part-- is simply creation in slow motion. We are literally shaping  souls like a potter shapes clay, building children  and instilling in them all the knowledge, skills, testimony, and power they will need to make successful  choices."  (pg. 8)

I thought that was such a beautiful thought and wish that more women understood this; that creation is part of what it means to be a woman. Our Heavenly Mother is a creator, in the grandest sense of the word, and what we do as women here on the earth mirrors her eternal nature. Like Stephanie said, it is more than childbearing, it is creating and shaping souls. The most beautiful thing is that you don't have to have children of your own to be a creator. Each and every woman is a MOTHER-- a CREATOR-- it is part of her divine nature.

Oh my sweet, sweet Savannah. I am so blessed to get to raise a daughter, and teach you the divine nature of being a confident, joyful daughter of God. You are Smart, You are Kind, You are Important, You are Wonderful!!!

So here's to motherhood! The greatest job I could ever have hoped for!! These little darlings are mine, and I am so thankful for our eternal family!

 This picture was taken last Sunday. It was "one of those days" that my efforts did not seem to be making any difference, and I thought I was going to collapse in tears or start screaming like a banshee... but then they were wonderful, and I remembered why I am the luckiest girl alive.

Thank you Father in Heaven for sending them to me.