Today in WalMart I had one of those experiences that I'm pretty sure you have to have in order to graduate from parenting toddlers. It was the best because Nathaniel was actually with us on this shopping trip. Normally I take the kids while he's at work. So I feel like my Mother's Day gift is going to be AWESOME next year because he has so much pity on me. hahaha Akston is a screamer...just plain and simple. The boy can wake the dead, I believe. Actually I know because it's usually how I'm forced out of my post-sleep state in the mornings. I think he's going to make a great missionary one day and be a powerful voice for the Lord.
Until then....ouch.
Anyway, while in WalMart turning heads, I had a quick throwback to my "single" days. I remembered seeing the moms who were doing just what I was doing today and thinking "I can't wait to be them." It really changed my perspective. There's always the few that give grumpy looks, but there is likely one or two cheering you on quietly from the next aisle over. I met one of the cheerleaders at the checkout. She was playing peek-a-boo with Akston and commenting on what a little cutie he is. Then she said, "I've been where you are." She looked at her pre-teen daughter standing next to her and said, "and now they're all grown up in a blink of an eye." She encouraged me and told me I wasn't alone. However, the kindest thing she said to me was, "I can tune screaming babies out!" haha If only it were so for the rest of the store!
Today I'm grateful for cheerleaders like that sweet lady. I've met so many in my last three years of motherhood. Most of all I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father who is our greatest cheerleader. Even if every person on the planet spoke against my parenting and disapproved of the way I choose to raise my children, I can feel His approbation as I try and that's enough for me.
“You are doing God's work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you, and He will bless you, --even--no, -especially--when your days and your nights may be most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master's garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and weep over their responsibility as mothers, `Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.' And it will make your children whole as well.” -Jeffrey R. Holland
"In speaking of mothers generally, I especially wish to praise and encourage young
mothers. The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. The
young years are often those when either husband or wife—or both—may
still be in school or in those earliest and leanest stages of developing
the husband’s breadwinning capacities. Finances fluctuate daily between
low and nonexistent. The apartment is usually decorated in one of two
smart designs—Deseret Industries provincial or early Mother Hubbard. The
car, if there is one, runs on smooth tires and an empty tank. But with
night feedings and night teethings, often the greatest challenge of all
for a young mother is simply fatigue. Through these years, mothers go
longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal
for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. It
is not surprising when the shadows under their eyes sometimes vaguely
resemble the state of Rhode Island... Do the best you can through these years, but whatever else you do,
cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself
sends angels to watch over you and your little ones." -Jeffrey R. Holland
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