Thankful to Be a Mom

I am incredibly thankful to be a Mom.  Ever since my nephew, Noah, was born, I couldn't wait to become a Mom myself and to have a child to love forever.  Little did I know at the time that it would be such a challenge with years of procedures, paperwork, blood, sweat, tears, and adding a whole new wonderful family to get where I am today.  God knew back then what I needed to go through to fully appreciate every moment of motherhood.  And I mean every moment. Even those trying times when I just want to rip my hair out in frustration.  Even then, I still am thankful because I know "this too shall pass" and in the blink of an eye, my girls will be all grown up. *tears*

 I am grateful for the process it took for me to become a Mom to both of my beautiful girls.  Though I endured several losses,  I feel blessed that I was able to experience a healthy pregnancy in its entirety.  I feel blessed that I was able to give birth, albeit it was via C-section after 22 hours without A/C in July, I still feel blessed that I experienced it.  I feel blessed that I was able to try to nurse Gabby during those first few weeks.  Although I was not producing enough milk for my baby to thrive, I still feel blessed that I was able to try and to experience it.

I feel blessed that we got to experience the incredible adoption process.  Even though we had tons of paperwork and hundreds of hoops to jump through, I feel blessed that we went through it.  I feel blessed that Gracie's birthmom and birth grandmom love her so much that they were willing to sacrifice and go through such heartache to be assured that Gracie would be raised by a loving family.  I feel so blessed that they entrusted her life to us forever.  I also feel so blessed that we gained having them as family as well.  That they want to be in contact because they love Gracie and want her to know it.

I am thankful that God had me encounter all of the challenges in becoming a Mom because if he hadn't, I wouldn't have experienced both pregnancy and adoption, and I wouldn't have my beautiful little girls.  Isn't God awesome?!!

Mother's Day is always bitter-sweet for me.  It's bitter because I know what it's like to struggle for something you want so badly. My heart aches for those wonderful women out there who are struggling to become a Mom, through pregnancy and through adoption, and my heart aches for those who have lost their own Moms.

Mother's Day is sweet to me because I've cleared the hurdles and won my beautiful prizes at the end.  Also because I have the best Mom in the world.  I hope that I can be half the Mom to my girls that she is to me.

My beautiful Mom and my beautiful girls on Mother's Day

Easter preciousness