A Mother's Touch

On Friday afternoon, I met my mom, my sister-in-law, and her two kids at the exit that leads to....OUR HOUSE!!!

That's right. My mom came to visit! And she brought Juliet and her kids along with her. My brother and Juliet live in Alaska, so this is a very rare thing to have her in our home.

Just for a re-cap, my mom has been to our house twice since Ben and I graduated from college 6 years ago. The first time was when I had the horrific miscarriage and ended up severly anemic for weeks on end. My mom came the day I got home from the hospital and stayed for a week. Sadly, it was her first time ever coming to see us, and I only remember a few bits and pieces of it. I was on heavy meds that week and I don't remember much at all. She came in a time of great need though, and I am so grateful for her love and service.

The second time she came was exactly a year later, the day I got home from the hospital after giving birth to William. That week was absolutely out of control. William was so incredibly sick and we were in the tailspin of trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He was crying ALL day and ALL night and Ben and I were complete wrecks of worry and exhaustion. Ben and I got less than 2 hours of sleep a night that week. It was pretty bad. My mom saved us by taking complete care of Mary and Sam.

So, her visit this time around, I was elated to be healthy, happy, rested, and able to treat her as a guest and not have her working the whole time. It was awesome to have her see our new home and leave her own footprint here. She bouyed me up in ways that only a mother can do. She praised all of my hard work with painting. She gushed over the kids rooms and the decorations I have throughout the house. She smooched all over Williams fat squishy face, and she played with Mary and Sam. She brought my favorite goodies, and she brought LOTS of them. Cinnamon rolls, pumpkin rolls, cinnamon bread, giant cookies, ect. She brought such a feeling of comfort and love to our home.

Juliet and her kids left their footprints as well. The kids played and played and played. They are very cute together and I love that Mary and Sam will be able to connect with and have a bond with their cousins. The fact that Juliet traveled all this way brought a feeling of family unity and love to our home. A feeling of sacraficing for eachother and making family a priority. I am grateful for her willingness to come and for what that teaches my children about the importance of family.

We crammed a lot in a little time. We went to chick filet, we talked, we brainstormed lots of decor ideas for some places in our home that I am stumped with, we drove to Mary's school so grandma could see it, we went to Hobby Lobby and had a very "successful" trip, we made Christmas plans, we set up all of Sam's car tracks, and we had a good time just being together.

Our home was left, once again, with such a feeling of love and happiness.

We have been starved for visitors for so long, and I don't take any of it for granted. I LOVE getting the phone call that someone wants to stop by, or stay the night, or just come visit. It means so much to me. It makes this very difficult move a lot easier and reminds me over and over again, that there are reasons the Lord needs us here, and even though we have yet to see some things unfold, and it may take years for some of them to come to pass, other reasons are already being shown to us. I feel that they are our tender mercies in our time of hard adjustment. Some of those reasons can be fun ones. We need to be here to see family more often and to feel more of that love. We all need eachother. I am down with that. It has already blessed our lives and our home so much.

Thank you so much for coming mom and Juliet. I love the footprints you left in our home. Love you!