My heart is spilling over with love for motherhood and mothers today.
Please excuse this old photo, but let's just take a look at those lovely ladies there in the middle of our couch:
They are two of the most amazing mothers I know.
They have taught me things that have changed my life forever.
I am so grateful for them.
My mother-in-law raised my husband just exactly perfectly for me, for which I will be in her debt forever and ever. She leads with Christ-like love. She is wise. She has taught me countless mothering lessons through her example. Things like how important it is to be careful what I threaten my kids with and how important it is to honor the Priesthood in our home. She has given each of my children hand-made blankets that signify her love wrapped around them even when we are far away. They have been "loved" so much that each of them has disintegrated as they have been used and used as a reminder of her love. My husband and each of my children wear the twinkle she has in her eye like jewels in their own. It is one of my most favorite things they have inherited from her.
My own dear mother's favorite word from the scriptures is "Remember" and she has mastered that task. She is the best person I know at truly remembering...everything from the stories of mothers in all the countries she visits (teaching parenting seminars with my dad) to what kind of food each grandchild likes when they come visit her. 
(Here she is in Bolivia with a mother she has no-doubt learned from and taught much.)
Her example reaches and changes everyone she meets, elevating them higher. But I'd venture to say that as much as she has touched the hearts of people all over the world she has "mothered" with her listening ears, the people she has mothered and influenced the very most are her own children. Words cannot express how much I love my mother.
Then there are my sisters:
...and sister-in-laws...
...from both sides of the family:
Married with children or not, their examples of mothering have influenced my life so much. I adore each of them and I'm so grateful that I'm lucky enough to have them in my life.
My friends, married or with children or not, teach me every day through how they mother those around them, how they sacrifice, how they love. People from this blog who I have never even met have influenced and enhanced how I feel about motherhood. For all that I am so very, very grateful.
Like I said, my heart is overflowing with love of motherhood today.
Mothers make the world go around.
Happy Mother's Day!
(Here she is in Bolivia with a mother she has no-doubt learned from and taught much.)
...and sister-in-laws...
...from both sides of the family:
Married with children or not, their examples of mothering have influenced my life so much. I adore each of them and I'm so grateful that I'm lucky enough to have them in my life.