grateful

Tonight I feel grateful to be a Mom.

Parker has been a bit under the weather with a little cold, and because he doesn't know how to blow his nose yet, I was up about every two hours last night to suction all the nasty out of his nose so that he could breathe. This of course would make him upset and I would have to hold and rock him until he calmed down, and fell back asleep.

Tonight I feared that history was going to repeat itself once again. 

But it's OK.

As I rocked my son to sleep tonight, and sang him the words to "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" (one I've been singing to him since he was a newborn), he calmed right down, laid his head on my shoulder, and fell asleep. 

At the same time, a calm thought came to my mind that this little boy was something special, and that even though I was exhausted, it didn't matter anymore. I knew that all I needed to do was hold him close, and let him know that I was there to comfort him.  I know that my calling in life is to be a good Mother to him, and to our future children. 

So tonight, I am grateful for the divine calling to be a mother.

"The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. The young years are often those when either husband or wife—or both—may still be in school or in those earliest and leanest stages of developing the husband’s breadwinning capacities. Finances fluctuate daily between low and nonexistent. The apartment is usually decorated in one of two smart designs—Deseret Industries provincial or early Mother Hubbard...with night feedings and night teethings, often the greatest challenge of all for a young mother is simply fatigue...Do the best you can through these years, but whatever else you do, cherish that role that is so uniquely yours and for which heaven itself sends angels to watch over you and your little ones."

(Jeffrey R. Holland "Because She Is a Mother")