Being a Mother

The other night I had a realization of what being a mother is truly about. It is about doing the things that keep your family happy and your home a beautiful place to be. It is about doing the things that often go unnoticed but are vitally important to the well being of your spouse and children. As I listened to an older friend of mine counsel another older (yet younger than the first) friend of mine who is facing a hard time in her life I was filled with and moved by her words of wisdom. She said, "You don't realize it but everything you say and do influences and shapes the little souls that you are forming. When things are hard you have to keep going and do it cheerfully." She captured everything that my mother is to me and everything that I want to be. I want to be the quiet influence in my child's life that is constant and unconditional. It is times like these that help me to appreciate the beauty in everyday life. While my day may consist of wiping my baby's adorable bum, his drool, nose, and occasional tears...I am making this world a better place by the mother I am for my child. It is in the quiet moments at home and the fun moments of learning, whether implicitly or explicitly that I am doing my part.

Great Gran, who was truly a great wife, mother, and grandmother~ March 2008

"Whatever you are, be a good one." ~Abraham Lincoln

I like to think that being a good wife and mother is innately within me and deeply the person who I truly am, however, I have a lot of on-the-job training to do. President Hinckley once shared the saying,

"The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement."

And for that, I am truly grateful for my mother who was so Divinely chosen to be my mentor in these small and simple things which are anything but small and simple in Heavenly Father's plan. I am so grateful for the blessing that is mine to be a wife and mother!

With my adorable mother at the Grond Ole Opry in Nashville, TN 2009