Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms! I'm really not sure who reads my blog, so if you are a mom, hope your day was wonderful. If you aren't a mom, I still hope your day was wonderful! For many years I had such a longing to be a mommy, and Mother's Day wasn't the easiest day of the year for me. So, if you are in that position, I hope you will know how special you are right where you are. If God had given us children sooner we certainly wouldn't have had some of the same experiences we did. I can't imagine being at the end of parenting (well, parenting in our home, at least, I know you never really stop parenting) at this age, though my mom was a Mammaw at my age!

We had a nice day. Phil brought me roses yesterday & today the girls gave me homemade cards, some homemade gifts, and a nice packaged gift with rose scented soaps and fuzzy slippers in it. Ruth came to our house, then we went to eat, or so we thought. She wanted to go to the cemetery today to see the marker on the columbarium (where they put the ashes of those who have been cremated) where Bill is. We planned to go to the same restaurant we went to after the burial service. We drove up & there were no cars. They are CLOSED on Sunday! Since we were already near the cemetery, we drove there first.

Apparently, Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year at Ft. Sam Houston's cemetery. It was bumper to bumper traffic, one way only. The map they gave us was very difficult to read (not a good copy), so we missed where we were supposed to be and had to go out & come back in. We finally found our way over and got to see the place. I knew people would be out to visit the graves of their moms, but I was quite surprised when I saw a family with lawn chairs who must just spend the afternoon there.

After the cemetery, we drove to a different Vietnamese restaurant. I had to step into this decision (since I was not involved in any others today) and repeat that I CANNOT eat Chinese food. Chinese food has soy sauce, which has wheat in it. Wheat has gluten. I CAN eat Vietnamese food. They do NOT use soy sauce. It is possible that you could have something made at a Chinese restaurant without soy sauce, but chances are the pan was previously used with soy sauce in it, or more likely, their is often a communication gap at many Asian restaurants, and I speak neither Chinese nor Vietnamese, so it's easiest to stick to what I know.

We came back to our house for lemon bars. GLUTEN FREE lemon bars. They were yummy!

I like to read "Our Daily Bread" devotionals at this website: http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml
I don't know about you, but it seems to me that every mother's day the sermon in church uses Proverbs 31 as the Scripture of the day. These are some of the verses they read each 2nd Sunday in May:
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.

and

28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

Here is a link to the entire passage: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Prov.%2031;&version=31;

I realize this is the standard that we are supposed to hope to reach as Christian wives and moms. We are supposed to be Super Woman like this lady.

Read this part:
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

Let's see. Verse 15 pretty much knocks me out from the get-go. Arises while it is still dark. Well, I do, but it's typically a potty break.

It's the rest of verse 15 and the following verses that really give me an "Ah-Ha!" moment. "She provides food for her family AND PORTIONS FOR HER SERVANT GIRLS." AH-HA!!!! THEN, it says she goes out & works & keeps working into the night. This woman had house help! Not just one. She didn't call Merry Maids for the day. She had house help daily, I am sure. Now, this may be a stretch, but did you notice in many verses in that passage that she works outside the home? Just a hunch, but I'm guessing she wasn't a full-time homeschool mom. I may be wrong on that, but she wasn't at home with her children all day all the time.

So, we've got a woman who has servant girls to help her do whatever needs to be done. She's not at home all the time with her kids. I don't think this is encouraging us homeschool moms to run out & take a job while we send our kids to school. My husband and children have never arisen and called me blessed. They've mumbled things at me, but I'm pretty sure that "blessed" was not in there anywhere. Are you still with me? Because I really have a valid point coming here. I believe I know how to be the perfect Proverbs 31 woman. All I need is for my husband to hire some servant girls. See! Wouldn't that solve the problems? They could do the housekeeping and watch the kids while I go do my "profitable trading" which, in my case is kitchenware. Phil wouldn't need to rush home when I have a show. He wouldn't complain about me being out late doing a show. Because the servant girls would be here to help with the kids. What do you think of my brilliant plan?

By the way, I do have one part of that Proverbs 31 lady down pat: Her lamp does not go out at night. There is hope after all.