The Joy of Motherhood

First Photo of Sara Joy

No one knows pure joy like a woman who has just given birth….oh what joy it is!  For me, that moment when I first knew this joy was 35 years ago today when my first child, Sara Joy was born.  Randy and I had only been married 5 months when I found out I was pregnant.  We spent our first anniversary in our first Lamaze class.  It wasn’t what we had expected to be doing on that day but we were both very excited to be becoming a mommy and daddy.
Actually, though I had a great many interests, and thoughts about what career I might pursue, being a mother was the only thing I knew for sure I wanted to be in life.  So though it was a bit sooner than I had expected it would happen, I went through my pregnancy knowing I would love motherhood.  I was oh so so so sick….it wasn’t just morning sickness…it was ‘all day and all night for 9 months sickness’!  I initially lost weight being pregnant because nothing I ate ever stayed down long enough for me to get any calories out of it.  But that didn’t daunt the joy I was experiencing, even then, at the notion that I would soon have something to show for all the trips to the bathroom I was making.

But as much joy as I thought I knew at expecting…it all paled in comparison to what I felt when that precious little creature finally made her entrance into my life!  Holding Sara for the first time brought such love and joy to me, I thought I might burst.  And though I had had 9 months of nausea and 21 hours of hard labor with no drugs or epidural, when they wheeled me into the recovery room right after her birth, I looked up at my dear husband who was completely exhausted and totally spent and said to him, “I can’t wait until we can do this again!”  And I meant it.

This is not to say that every day has been perfect or that life as a mother is easy….there are certainly challenges and obstacles and being faced with your own shortcomings…and fears….and tears.  But, I wouldn’t trade one day of it for anything else on earth.  I suppose that is exactly as God intended it to be.  Being a mother has taught me so much about being dependent on God.  That moment of giving life to another human being is the closest I can imagine to knowing what God, the ultimate creator and parent, must feel like every day.  Every other experience in my life seems so much smaller than that moment 35 year ago when I became a mother….Sara Joy’s mother.  Happy Birthday sweet girl!

With so much love and joy and gratitude for a very abundant life,

Motherhood from Two Chums on Vimeo.

First Foto of Baby Trevor John

When I was told that motherhood would bring me a sense of joy that I had never experienced before, I really did not know how amazingly wonderful that experience would actually be!

Having grown up as an only child, I was not around babies very often.  When I was, I was in heaven, but it happened all too seldom.   When I had this adorable little baby of my own, I was over the moon.  I just “floated” through the maternity hospital thinking that I was the only mother in the world!  I was quite content with this one, perfect, beautiful baby boy and, he was my one and only.  Nothing can quite prepare you for this amazing happening.  There was a bigger plan at work, though, as when Trevor was in his teens, I met and married a wonderful gentleman who has five children.  So, now I have the privilege of having six children and rejoice in each and every one of them.

Quite honestly, when we come to that Sunday in May when mothers are so lovingly celebrated,  I always feel that our children, who have made us mothers, should be the ones who are celebrated!

Oh yes, our children bring us love, joy and an abundance that you never thought was possible!

PS  Happy Birthday, Sara darling!