Mom Challenge....Day 14/GratiTuesday

Day 14: Remember that being a mother is a gift.

  Honestly, I have always felt this from the beginning. Getting my babies here in the first place was not super easy. Ben didn't just have to look at me for me to get pregnant. We worked for quite a while to get Skylar here and when I say worked, I mean it. Infertility is not easy stuff. We were majorly blessed to have the next four babies just come with ease....but then Gabriel didn't get to stay....and once again we were on the infertility roller coaster....resulting in two more losses and heartache beyond words. I know, with all of my heart, what a gift motherhood is and it is one of the greatest gifts I've been given.

    Today was also a good day to remember this as I was able to meet up with a friend of mine that I haven't seen in 20 years. We were good friends in junior high and then I went to a different high school and although we stayed in touch for a few years, eventually we lost contact. She's had some of the same challenges as I have although hers have been so much harder. Her only pregnancy came with a lot of work too...and ended in losing her baby boy at 21 weeks almost 8 years ago. She has since been blessed to adopt 3 adorable kiddos and she truly treasures them. She has helped me probably more than anyone in this whole thing because she gets it, yet she's survived it. I swear I text her almost every day for help to get me through all of the tough moments. It was so good to finally see her after all of this time and after all she's done for me! She is a wonderful mom and I know she truly treasures it!

    I don't think you have to had gone through all of this stuff to remember that being a mother is a gift, but I do know that the most of the women I've met that have truly had to work to get their babies here and the ones that have had to say goodbye have a deep understanding of just how precious it is. It's not something that I take for granted because I know how hard it is to ache for the gift of motherhood on both ends.

     Of course, like every mom, I have my days where I just want to run and hide for a few minutes or maybe even go to the bathroom once without anyone needing me, or get a completely hot shower because no one has come into the room and let all the hot air out just to see what I was doing (yes, it's a daily occurrence!!). But I'm so thankful for all of those things because it means I have children that want me and need me just as much as I do them. I am so thankful for my Ben who helped give me my kids and eternally grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that made that all possible. On the days that I feel so unloved, even by Him, I know that, in reality, I am loved very much to have been given the greatest gift I could've ever wished for....the gift of being a mother.