Mothers Day!

Being a mom is such a blessing! It's not always an easy job, but it's so rewarding. I feel so blessed that God has given me the honor and priviledge of not only raising one of his children, but he's trusted me with three of them. I can only hope that I raise them to be what God has purposed them for.

Today started off with a great church service. We started a new series entitled, "Heaven Is For Real". Pastor read excerpts from the book, titled the same. It was an enlightening message about how we are to be humble like a child in order to enter the gates of heaven. "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." (Luke 18:17) "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...born to God." (John 1:12-13) At the end of service all the mom's were asked to stand and be recognized. As we stood up, some of our kids came in to pass out a little gift to all the moms while music played and some ladies performed a hula dance on stage.

After service I went out to stand in line to purchase a copy of the book "Heaven Is For Real". They had a special for moms to purchase it at half price today. Anyone else could buy it too of course. Unfortunately they ran out so I got a voucher to pick my copy up next week. I can't wait to start reading it. From what I've heard, once you start you can't put it down.  As soon as I'm done with it I will be shipping it to my husband. I do that often after reading a book. Last deployment I read "The Shack" and then sent it to him. I'm really curious where it has ended up. After Trint read it he wrote his name and address in it and handed it to the next person. Several people had read it and wrote their names in it by the time Trint redeployed. He left it there so they could continue to pass it around. I'm sure we'll never see it again since we live at a new address, but it would be interesting to see how many names are in it by now.

Kid's church was great today. The kids decorated cards and potholders for their moms. We didn't start a new lesson today because the fun dollar store was open too. Between the craft, the store and snack time, we didn't really have much time to start a new lesson and do the activities that go along with it. My class just reviewed last Sunday's lesson on forgiveness. It was great to hear their virtue in action stories from the past week. I love how my kids always find a way to put our virtue of the month into action during their busy lives throughout the week. I challenge them with something new every week and they always have a story to tell the following Sunday. These kids are only in 2nd and 3rd grade, but they are wholeheartedly following God and loving Him. I just love spending my Sunday mornings with them and connecting with them, as well as their families. Sometimes I think I'm learn more from them then they do from me.

After church I took my kids to McDonalds for lunch. I know what you're thinking, it's mothers day so why McDonalds and not something, well, not fast food. That's just me! Whether it's mothers day or my birthday, I'd much rather go somewhere that the kids enjoy. It's more of a gift to watch them be happy than to spend a lot of money somewhere that they don't all like the food. We still had a couple hours after we were done eatting before our movie started so we headed to Wal-Mart. I still owed Tristan a cookie monster hat that I had promised him a couple weeks ago, the kids needed new socks and I wanted to get some flowers for a friend. Her husband is also deployed and her kids are still young so they didn't have a chance to make anything for mommy like the school age kids do. I decided to brighten her day with flowers. We were done at the store way before the movie started, but I didn't want to end up spending any more money so we checked out and left. I'm glad it worked out that we got to the movie early because by the time it started the theater was packed. I've never been to a movie here where the theater was completely full. Usually we are only one of maybe 5 families, if not less. Rio was a good movie, but I have to admit that I was so tired I fell asleep for a short while. That's what happens when there's a holiday and my phone dings all night long with incoming texts. The 5 hour time difference is not always a good thing because people don't think about it. That's okay though because I love hearing from my family and friends. Anyhow, Shay was resting her head on my shoulder so I layed my head down on hers and I was out. I only slept for maybe 10 minutes, but I had to force myself to stay awake through much of the movie.

With our day out coming to an end, we headed home. On the way we stopped at my friends house to drop off her flowers. She was surprised and happy! Mission accomplished! We visited for a little while then the kids and I came home to eat a small dinner, pizza bagels and macaroni & cheese, compliments of Tristan and Shay. The kids cleaned their rooms up a bit like they promised me they would and we watched Paul Blart Mall Cop on the family channel.

All in all, mothers day was a great day that I could relive over and over. The kids got along better than usual and we all had a great time together. In fact, they got along so well that I wasn't sure if they were even my kids. hehe When Tristan went upstairs to go to bed he heard noise in Syd's room so he went to check on her. It was just her radio, but she was still awake. Tristan asked her why she wasn't sleeping and she told him it was because the lamp was on and the music was too loud. It was totally just an excuse because she usually gets mad at me for turning her music down and she always sleeps with the lamp on. Tristan asked why she didn't just turn the light off and she said she was comfortable and didn't want to move. So he went over and turned the light off and turned down her radio so she could sleep. What a sweet moment for a mom of kids who are normally fighting. I have to say that they do take care of each other when necessary and they always stick for each other if someone outside of our family is picking on them. Deep down I know that they really do love each other and I believe that love will shine through as they grow into young adults, if not sooner. I'm pushing for the sooner, but one never knows!

I hope everyone out there had as great of a mothers day as I did!