A Different Mother's Day

Spring is here again and it's the time we celebrate the mothers in our lives. There have been so many encouraging articles and videos on social media this week that I can hardly think of anything to say that hasn't already be said to celebrate our moms. This one was a really great read on the strength of mothers and what is at stake. I loved this video, really I love all the videos done by "Story of This Life." 

One thing that hasn't been said yet this year is "Happy Mother's Day, Connie Hagen!" Well, I actually did just call her to tell her that. But usually I do a little tribute to her in this space as well. So, here is your shout-out Mom! If you hadn't been the mom you are, I wouldn't have wanted to be the mom I so longed to be. I grew up watching you with your babies (my siblings) and longed to be just like you. I don't know how you did it all with so many of us, but you did. And you did a great job too. You have some great kids if I do say so myself! And now, you have 5 (almost 6) wonderful grandchildren too! Thank you for being my Mom.

This Mother's Day was a little different for me. Okay, a lot different. For starters, our pastor asked several of the mothers with young children to participate in the service. And not just stand up and wave. Nope. He gave us each a role. One welcomed everyone to the service, another prayed, one read the scripture reading, and another gave the benediction/blessing. They were all so beautiful! What did he ask me to do? Speak. As in preach. Although I wouldn't call it preaching, really. More like sharing . . . for a really long time. As far as I know, our church has not done this before -- having moms serve on Mother's Day. Nothing like upping the ante for stress on a Sunday morning (for all the young families!)

But in all serious, it was really sweet and I think it turned out lovely. There were strong, wonderful women leading the service and honoring the Lord in a way we hadn't done before. Seriously, we are never in the front -- we arrive late, we sit in the back, we hush our children and leave as soon as possible to get lunch and naps. I wonder if the rest of the congregation even knows who we are! (that's just a joke, they can't miss us.) It also made me feel a strong sense of unity with these women-- That we could all do something like this together on such a special day.

If you are interested in seeing the service, our church does a live feed on Facebook and you can check out the replay it here. I didn't anticipate talking for as long as I did, but I'm thankful God steadied my nerves and allowed me to go at a slower pace instead of racing thru it as my gut wanted me to.

That was this morning. This afternoon was also different for me. Last year, I wanted to have a family day for Mother's Day so we went hiking at Lands' End. It was fun to be together but the day left me exhausted instead of refreshed. So today, I asked for some alone time. I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I had all afternoon to do whatever I wanted. 

I chose to go on a hike. At first I was heading toward Twin Peaks but soon discovered that the white puffy clouds were blowing over the top of the peaks already and at a really fast pace. Knowing that my view wouldn't be that great and the wind would be really harsh, I chose to change direction and go up a closer hill -- Bernal. My goal was to have some quiet reflection, time to recenter myself after a really rough week and a challenging task like speaking in church. I had found myself thinking through my presentation every night while I tried to go to bed and every nap time and every car drive. So my thoughts seemed really far away and scattered. It was time to focus.

I put in my 10,000 steps and sat down under a tree for nearly 25 minutes and took in the beauty of the day. And then I walked home. I was only gone for two hours but it was enough. I also wanted to spend a little time with my boys!

My husband treated to breakfast, lunch and dinner all cooked by himself. Not a small feat since we are doing Whole30 this month. He bought me the most perfect card and beautiful Japanese bowls. I had asked him for new bowls we could use for soy sauce/wasabi for eating sushi and he found them and they are perfect.

Happy Mother's Day!

Spring is here again and it's the time we celebrate the mothers in our lives. There have been so many encouraging articles and videos on social media this week that I can hardly think of anything to say that hasn't already be said to celebrate our moms. This one was a really great read on the strength of mothers and what is at stake. I loved this video, really I love all the videos done by "Story of This Life." 

One thing that hasn't been said yet this year is "Happy Mother's Day, Connie Hagen!" Well, I actually did just call her to tell her that. But usually I do a little tribute to her in this space as well. So, here is your shout-out Mom! If you hadn't been the mom you are, I wouldn't have wanted to be the mom I so longed to be. I grew up watching you with your babies (my siblings) and longed to be just like you. I don't know how you did it all with so many of us, but you did. And you did a great job too. You have some great kids if I do say so myself! And now, you have 5 (almost 6) wonderful grandchildren too! Thank you for being my Mom.

This Mother's Day was a little different for me. Okay, a lot different. For starters, our pastor asked several of the mothers with young children to participate in the service. And not just stand up and wave. Nope. He gave us each a role. One welcomed everyone to the service, another prayed, one read the scripture reading, and another gave the benediction/blessing. They were all so beautiful! What did he ask me to do? Speak. As in preach. Although I wouldn't call it preaching, really. More like sharing . . . for a really long time. As far as I know, our church has not done this before -- having moms serve on Mother's Day. Nothing like upping the ante for stress on a Sunday morning (for all the young families!)

But in all serious, it was really sweet and I think it turned out lovely. There were strong, wonderful women leading the service and honoring the Lord in a way we hadn't done before. Seriously, we are never in the front -- we arrive late, we sit in the back, we hush our children and leave as soon as possible to get lunch and naps. I wonder if the rest of the congregation even knows who we are! (that's just a joke, they can't miss us.) It also made me feel a strong sense of unity with these women-- That we could all do something like this together on such a special day.

If you are interested in seeing the service, our church does a live feed on Facebook and you can check out the replay it here. I didn't anticipate talking for as long as I did, but I'm thankful God steadied my nerves and allowed me to go at a slower pace instead of racing thru it as my gut wanted me to.

That was this morning. This afternoon was also different for me. Last year, I wanted to have a family day for Mother's Day so we went hiking at Lands' End. It was fun to be together but the day left me exhausted instead of refreshed. So today, I asked for some alone time. I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I had all afternoon to do whatever I wanted. 

I chose to go on a hike. At first I was heading toward Twin Peaks but soon discovered that the white puffy clouds were blowing over the top of the peaks already and at a really fast pace. Knowing that my view wouldn't be that great and the wind would be really harsh, I chose to change direction and go up a closer hill -- Bernal. My goal was to have some quiet reflection, time to recenter myself after a really rough week and a challenging task like speaking in church. I had found myself thinking through my presentation every night while I tried to go to bed and every nap time and every car drive. So my thoughts seemed really far away and scattered. It was time to focus.

I put in my 10,000 steps and sat down under a tree for nearly 25 minutes and took in the beauty of the day. And then I walked home. I was only gone for two hours but it was enough. I also wanted to spend a little time with my boys!

My husband treated to breakfast, lunch and dinner all cooked by himself. Not a small feat since we are doing Whole30 this month. He bought me the most perfect card and beautiful Japanese bowls. I had asked him for new bowls we could use for soy sauce/wasabi for eating sushi and he found them and they are perfect.

Happy Mother's Day!