Mother's Day, Social Media, and Expectations

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mothers that I have learned to know over the years. Because of the wonderful world of adoption I have come to know a lot of strong, faithful mothers.

Because of some mothers who had no choices or maybe choices made for them, we have 4 wonderful children. I honor their mothers this day too. I need to come up with some kind of method/ceremony to honor their part in our children's lives.

Social media- People like to bash social media and I can totally agree it can be a time waster, but there are people that I rarely get to see and I can keep up with their lives. There is also the helpful side of FB...the other day I realized I'm going to need extra pizza pans for a supper, I simply posted my need and within minutes I had four offers of pizza pans someone even offered their very expensive Pampered Chef stones...my hubby advised me not to accept that offer...not sure if he was afraid I'd break them or like them so much I'd want my own. Ask a question on the private FB pages and you soon have answers for picky eating, tantrums or IEP meetings.  It's like the old time circle letters, but much faster!


Expectations-- Back when I volunteered with the ambulance a lot more, I would leave for a call in the middle of a meal, two hours later I'd come home and find quite a bit of a mess to clean up. That mess quite frankly irked me! But I learned over the years to try to expect a mess and be pleasantly surprised when the mess was actually not there...most of the dishes washed and some of the counters wiped. ( This is not a criticism of my hubby, but of my children, who know how to clean up, but need reminders for each step) Over the years I have learned that this technique allows me to be prepared for other tough times....one of the children is known to have a fit over a bit of homework, or combing of her hair, or cleaning up the books that were spread over the floor....I picture the worst case scenario and then also picture how I will handle it (deep breaths, calm voice, and a matter of fact attitude)   Every time I miss this step and get caught off guard, I goof up on my reaction.
 The other Saturday, I had a part in a women's seminar. The seminar lasted all day and I had 2 presentations. The preparing took a lot of my concentration the previous week so I left the house in less than stellar condition that morning. I had given some ideas of what should get accomplished during the day so that we could all attend the Spring concert that evening.  On my way home, I was suddenly struck by the thought "What if they didn't wash any dishes all day?!"  I went over the most important tasks that would need to be done...make sure the showers had been taken and then try to do as many of the dishes while making supper and try not to give orders too harshly....OK mind prepped....
Walked in the door and my counters were clear! The floor was clean! All the dishes had been washed AND dried AND put away (anyone who visits my house knows that is a rarity)  Turns out Joe took care of the floor (his normal job, but sometimes needs reminding) They took turns doing the dishes throughout the day and Zeke cleaned off the counters and cleared under the microwave. Hope did an excellent job on her living room (normal job, but sometimes needs reminding)
AMAZING! we are all growing up :)

Pray for the families with funerals this week....on Wednesday evening a father was backing his fuel truck into his driveway and his young son ran out to meet daddy, but daddy didn't see him...the grief is not something you can prepare your mind for...while we rest in the fact the little boy is safe in the arms of Jesus, I am sure his family has many questions.
The second funeral is of a young man from our school...he was on his senior trip with his class in Grenada, something went horribly wrong while they were snorkeling and he died. This happened Thursday. His classmates tried to get flights home, but there were no flights with 34 empty seats, so they decided to continue with the work projects that were planned and grieve together. They will arrive home Wednesday and see their friend layed to rest on Thursday...not sure how they will finish out the year, they will have 6 more days of school.