A Thousand Word Thursdays and Mysteries of Motherhood

I've found a great new meme over at Jen's blog, perfect for photo-loving me to participate in:



A picture certainly is worth more than a thousand words and do you know anyone who takes more pictures than me? No I didn't think so :-) So join us on Thursdays for looking back at meaningful photos from our archives. But today I'm not digging into my archives at all ... well perhaps a bit into the archives of my memory. Here are a few photos I snapped as I lay in bed early this morning:




For moment in time, in my drowsy waking moments I had a total flashback ... back probably 13 years. Our youngest laying there cuddled up with me flashed me back to when I would wake up and see my very first child snuggled up to me. Of course once I got up this morning here is where I found my oldest, I just had to take her picture too (as she was working on writing yet another book):


Can you believe how quickly they change from that sweet baby smelling, nursing, snuggling, needy baby stage to the adorable, talented, independent and energetic teenage stage? Did I blink? How did this happen???? Its seems like just yesterday I was waking up to a quiet house snuggled up with my first little girl. We were the only ones in the house as my dh, her daddy, was in the Navy and out to sea and it was just the two of us, Mother and Daughter. At least it feels like yesterday, yet I can remember the day she sat up without support for the first time (on our old couch), I can remember her first steps and her first taste of cake (both at her first bday party), the first day that I heard those daring words "I wuv u mama" (while driving to a playdate in Tacoma, WA). I remember her confusion as we moved across the country when she was three and her mixed emotions at the birth of her first sibling. I remember her first day of preschool, her first sleep over, her first time on horseback, her first harp lesson ....
How is it that all of that could have really occurred and yet I feel like it was only yesterday she was nursing while snuggled in my arms. Hear my long sigh here as I chalk it up to being another one of the mysteries of motherhood.

Ahhh ... Motherhood ... I think I speak for most if not all mothers when I say we had NO clue what we were in for.

I have mornings like these from time to time. I feel nostalgic and a bit weepy, remembering the first days of each my five children's lives. I'm blessed beyond measure! And I could get swept away in all the emotion if I allowed myself, but God has called me to motherhood and each of these five blessings needs me in different ways today. God willing they will each continue to grow and change, to meet new challenges and over come new obstacles. I will cherish not only the photos likes these taken this morning but also the ones only taken in my mind ... moments never photographed but truly never forgotten.

For today I will head out to be Kitchen help and Editor to my teenage daughter as she bakes and writes; I will be Coach and Cheerleader to my 10 year old as he trains in gymnastics and practices for his next baseball game; I will be a Naturalist with my 7 year old who loves everything about the outdoors and animals; I will try to understand race cars and tractors as my 3 year old tells me again and again about any number of car parts and farm machinery; and I will be mommy milk and a source of comfort and safety to my little one year old as she follows the lives of her older siblings. How does one person fill all of these rolls? I guess I'll never really understand it. So, again I just chalk it up to another one of the great mysteries of motherhood and praise God for the blessings I am surrounded by today and in my memory.