Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful mothering friends and family! I hope you had a marvelous day. I certainly did. Saturday Gerald took the girls on an "outing" which was really a chance for them to pick wildflowers in our woods and buy me a present. Of course, I pretended to have no idea what was going on when they returned and the girls said, "We were just (giggle giggle) hanging out (giggle giggle)!" Upon waking up Sunday, I was given strict orders to stay in my room and not come out. After a long time, I begged to at least take a shower. I was later escorted through the house were I waited in the living room. And what a reward! Two bouquets of flowers, egg sandwiches made by Gerald and Kendra, fresh cherries, chocolate spread (I love living next to Europe!), and fruit salad made entirely by Katrina. As Gerald later said, "I had no idea how long it takes to make a fruit salad!"

Later we went on a drive through a poppy-filled valley and then into another isolated, lush green one where we had a picnic. Much to the girls' delight, we also found the pictured "see saw" at an old camp ground!

In the States, I always felt and took on so much pressure to do it all with kids. Take them to ballet, soccer, art and library class at least once a week with educational craft times, character training and extensive reading at home. Then there is Morocco where even stay-at-home parents seem to think they can do absolutely nothing with their kids and send them off to school at age two for the whole day. Could there be something in between???

Recently I was challenged to look up what the Good Book says about being a good mother. Funny, I couldn't find any references for raising my child's IQ by playing Bach and introducing flashcards at eight months. But there was a whole lot about teaching children about loving and following God. And when I look back to my grandmothers and mother, that's what I see. I'm thinking they weren't being introduced to new parenting research every day in Oklahoma, India or Afghanistan where these women raised their children. So after all these years, a lot has changed, but God thankfully has stayed the same - and that helps me sort through all the parenting messages to the one I need to hear the most.