My Mother's Day....breakfast and ice...

This year Mother's Day meant everything to me because I was able to be home with my kids. I've never had to sacrifice so much time away from them as I've done for the past 4 months. I knew that this year would require a lot, but just as the saying goes "you can never fully appreciate something until it's no longer there." That truth has been hitting home with me more and more each passing week.

I flew back from Wisconsin late on Saturday night and looked forward to a down day with my family on Sunday. My kids decided to bring me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day. I had hinted a little about what I'd like to eat and they did not disappoint! They brought up a tray with toast, egg whites, strawberries and coffee.

 Yum!

I didn't think they couldn't have made it any better, until they brought me my ice packs! I had mentioned that icing my legs while in bed would be great, and up the stairs they came with my ice packs in tote. Talk about the royal treatment!

 My ice treatment!

My middle daughter had more royal treatment up her sleeve when she brought in a paper crown she'd made that had Happy Mother's Day lettered across the front. I did my best to balance it on my head for a picture. Then she showed me the things she had made at school for me. One was a butterfly made out of her hand prints. I thought that was downright precious. Holding my own hand over her prints, I couldn't believe how tiny her hands are.

 With my crown :)

Angelina's butterfly handprints

Austin had made me a card which he proudly bestowed on me.

 Austin's card

Trying to snap one with my boy!

Amira had made several things, one of which was an acrostic poem for the word mother. I got a kick out of what she wrote for it! 

Amira's poem

Time has a way of flying, and nothing makes time move faster than motherhood (or at least that seems to be the case for me). A lot of people have asked me about my experiences this year and all the stuff going on. To be quite honest, I feel like it's been a blur. I don't know where the past several months have gone and I have a horrible time trying to keep everything straight from week to week.

I was glad my kids made me homemade gifts and didn't buy me anything. I saw an article about what the average person spends on Mother's Day gifts and how much the greeting card companies make for this day to honor moms. I was surprised to find that it's actually the second highest gift giving holiday (next to Christmas). It's also the busiest day of the year for many restaurants and a peak day for long distance calling. Flowers/plants are the most common gift, but on top of that, are all the greeting cards that people send. According to Hallmark about 141 million greeting cards are sent each year for Mother's Day. With cards priced an average of $2-7 each, it's not hard to see how HUGE those sale numbers become!

All of this got me thinking. Cards are great, but if your anything like me you really don't need another card. You have a drawer full of cards that you hold on to because someone you love gave them to you, but you almost never bother to look at them again after receiving them. Maybe you read them and then recycle them and avoid my pack rat approach with a drawer full of cards. Or maybe you're one of the artistic and organized people who scrapbooks all your cards into memory books so you can savor the years.

My guess is that there are a lot of people who will eventually throw out (hopefully recycle) their cards. I started thinking about the numbers. What if all those people just called their mother and told them how much their appreciated them instead of buying a card? Sure give a gift, or take mom to lunch, but unless your a card lover, ditch it. What if, instead, that card money was donated to help someone in need? If even just a 1/3 of people that buy Mother's Day cards, decided to take that approach, millions and millions of dollars could be given to help others!!

I'd rather my children give $5 for someone that needed it, than to have another store bought card in my drawer. In case you're wondering, I didn't buy cards for my mom or mother-in-law. I told them how much their are loved and appreciated, but I'm setting an example I hope my kids will follow. Motherhood is about sacrifice, love, support, teaching and caring. And when I think about it, it's most fitting to ditch the paper cards and instead use that money for something that's much longer lasting and further reaching.

The best way my kids can honor me is in how they live their lives. I hope that they will embrace serving others, helping others as a part of that. I hope that will be ingrained into the core of who they are. To me that is worth far more than all the wonderful words any card could say!

My reason to celebrate Mother's Day!