This year Mother’s Day has been pretty special. On Friday at 4:30 I was wrapping up work and caught a bit of an interesting Oprah episode, thinking to myself “oh, I suppose I should go pick up my kids from daycare eventually…” and half-heartedly closed the laptop and turned off the TV. But when I got to school I was presented with a handmade gift from Alex, and a hand decorated plant and card from Nathan, with a note he had obviously written. “Dear Mom, Happy Mother’s Day. I love you very much. Love, Nathan” My heart melted. Then Saturday when my husband had to run to Target for something he came home and gave Nate a bunch of flowers to present to me. Knowing we would be spending today with my grandparents at a restaurant I don’t care for, he offered to take me to my favorite, the Olive Garden, for dinner. And Saturday was completed with a stop at La Centerra for a mother’s day concert and ice cream by the fountains.
Today he actually drove to the local donut shop for my breakfast, gave me a card, some gorgeous earrings and a top from the Loft, and took me to Panera for lunch. I’m feeling almost pampered (this is exceptionally rare).
But on my heart for several weeks, maybe even months now, have been other children needing mothers, needing love, needing physical support, and especially needing Jesus. God has been poking my heart over and over and over, rather relentlessly through the blogosphere, my church, the TV, even the concerts I’ve been too. As I’ve been getting rid of outgrown clothing and planning to sell Alex’s crib…I’ve been thinking maybe we should keep some things. Because I’ve had a steadily growing desire to open our hearts and home to more children that desperately need it. I’ve written before a bit about what I’ve been feeling, but I’ve started to say it out loud. My other half isn’t quite in the same place as I am at the moment, but I’m praying and I believe it will come. My desire to possibly become a foster family is a tough one to swallow…why disrupt our perfect little life?
So today I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long long time, and I have no idea why I haven’t. I pulled the trigger and sponsored a child through Compassion International. It’s something Mike can easily support, and I plan to involve our entire family. Kristen‘s story of her trip to Kenya with Compassion, and all the comments she has been receiving about people sponsoring multiple children, have left an imprint on my heart that I could not shake. And I realized that today, mother’s day, that is what I MOST wanted to do. Our little girl’s name is Mbeyu, and she’s 7 years old, from Kenya. I can’t wait to get to know her…I’ve always wanted to have a little girl in my life.
