motherhood

My cousin's wife Katie had a great post on her blog. It is about a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland entitled "Because She is a Mother" from the May 1997 Ensign. Such a great talk. Click here to get to it. I am so thankful to have the gospel in my life. This is what Katie said: "I've reflected on this talk often through the past months. It's given me a boost when I can't imagine getting up one more time at night, as we bounced Grace for hours on end on the exercise ball, or when it gets a little lonely being at home. I love being a Mom. It's hard, but I wouldn't trade it for anything." I so agree.

And still on the topic of motherhood...
For one of our ongoing enrichment activities my ward made blankets and put together newborn kits to send to Peru. I was able to put together 5 kits - diapers, pins, socks, soap, a sleeper, a onesie, a touque, a burp cloth, and a blanket. I rounded up a bunch of extra clothes, sleepers, and onesies to send. My mom and I made cloth diapers. I made a bunch of blankets and sent extra ones I had been given for Roman that were never used, and I made burp clothes from the scrap material. In total I sent 14 blankets. All together our ward send around 25 baby kits and over 130 blankets.


I'm not sure exactly what area in Peru everything was sent, but I guess the mothers there have nothing for their babies. Some babies go home from the hospital wrapped in newspaper. Doesn't that just make your heart ache. And not just for the babies. How would you feel as one of these mothers. You feel such love and devotion for this baby and are consumed with the need to provide and protect this child, and yet you can not, on your own, provide a blanket for your baby. I'm not sure if this came out right, I don't mean for it to sound like I am blaming the mother - far from it. It is just that this is the first opportunity of this type I have had since I have become a mother and I have begun to look at it from a different perspective. I think I might feel like I had failed my child if I could not provide such necessities for him. But hopefully these women have a different perspective than me and they do not feel the same. And hopefully our gift will bring joy to them and their families. But all the same, it has been nice to be humbled and reminded of what is important in life. It has been nice to look in Roman's closet each day and feel guilt at the many choices of clothes but also feel thanks to the Lord for all I have been given.