Mother's Day

I have heard many quotes and cute sayings about Mother's Day.  Today my mother gave me a book of them as a gift, and I love the pictures with the quotes on them.  I guess, if I had to write my own quote for Mother's Day, it would go something like this, "Mom- I can't imagine who I would be without you, and I can't imagine life without you.  Thank you for choosing to love me for all of these years."
Being a mom is the most amazing gift I have ever been given.  Having an amazing mom is the greatest blessing.  I thank God for my mother every day, and I pray that I will get to keep her for a long, long time. 
My children let me sleep in this morning.  They bought me flowers.  They helped Jason (I think) get breakfast ready.  They tried not to fight.  They folded and put away laundry (with just a few loud complaints).  They made me pretty things at school and brought them home today.  But better than that, they hugged me and told me they loved me.  And even better than that, they were here.  Through all that we have been through, through the loss of our 'perfect' family, I have learned that having my children with me is a gift in and of itself.  They don't have to do anything to make me enjoy Mother's Day.  Just by virtue of being here, I am able to not only honor my mother, but celebrate this day and realize the depth of love and respect we owe our mothers, because I understand what each one goes through for her children. 
I was able to wake up today to a house full of love, even with the whining and fighting and the mess, I have three children.  These are my blessings, these are my gifts from God and the only thing of worth I leave to the Earth. 
I am many things, but if I could only be one, if I had to sum up all that I am and all that I want to be, it would be in the word "mom." 
I spent the afternoon with my family.  We watched the children play, we ate good food, and we even played kickball- girls versus boys- and we lost terribly!  I can't imagine not having a family.  I can't imagine my family without the mothers we have in it. 
"'Mother' is the name for God in the minds and hearts of little children."
What a task I have before me.  What power I have been endowed with by God to be ready for all that I must do for my children.  What greater power and responsibility has God put on the earth than that He instills in His daughters?