Mother's Day :)

"I often go walking in meadows of clover, and I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue. I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over; dear Mother, all flowers remind me of you. O Mother, I give you my love with each flower, to give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through; for if I love blossoms and meadows and walking, I learn how to love them, dear Mother, from you." I Often Go Walking, from the Children's Songbook

Well, Mom, I'm sorry I don't have a poem for you, like you requested. But I promise, I tried. So I figured, the next best thing would be to write your favorite Mother's Day song out for you. Yes? No? Well, don't worry. That's not my gift. My gift to you this Mother's Day, is this post. Because I think mother's are important. They are essential to the Plan. So, it's not the most original gift. It's not the most fabulous gift. But it's a gift that I can give purely from the heart. You see Mom, you seem to have everything you need and want. What could I give you? Flowers? Nope, Jess got to that first. Chocolate? No, I'd probably end up eating it all before it got to you. But what about something that would last? Words that I don't normally say, though I probably should. Because, Mom, I love you. More than I could ever express. But, I'm gonna try. Or at least share some of it.

First, I'm going to share part of MY favorite Mother's Day song. "Mother, I love you. Mother, I do. Father in Heaven has sent me to you." You Mom, to you. Do you know what that means to me? It means a lot. The thought of going somewhere else actually kind of scares me a lot. But to know that the Lord saw it fit for me to be sent to you, to be your daughter, is so special to me. Also, the thought that, having given birth to 8 children before me, you were still willing to have me and to deal with having a 9th child growing up and running around a much too small house. Maybe because of me, you were a stay-at-home-mom 5 years longer than you would have. Maybe you would have become a teacher sooner. Maybe you would be getting ready to go on a mission with Dad right now. Who knows. But you were willing to have me.

Mom, you should know how much of a strength you have been to me. You have always been a great example, a great teacher. There's a reason why you've been a Sunday School teacher for forever. There's a reason why you were inspired to be an elementary school teacher. Because you do it so well. I've come to the point that I can't rely on your testimony, your knowledge. Both in the spiritual and temporal aspect of my life. It kind of puts a lot of pressure on me. But, I feel prepared, because you have been such a great teacher. I have learned the things that I need to. I have learned, so very clearly, what's right and what's wrong from you. Your testimony has been a rock in my life. Also, you've always been one I could go to. Even in like 2nd grade and my only worry was that my friends and I got in a fight over what to play for recess, and I didn't know what to do, I could always go to you and ask your advice. You've always had a listening ear. And you put up with a lot from me. You put up with my stress and the not so great side affects that come with it. You put up with my crankiness, my mood swings, my complaints, everything. And you still somehow manage to love me. I know I'm pretty tough to live with. I've got an attitude a lot and can be a bit bratty. But I appreciate the things that you do for me, regardless of the things I do and say.

There is so, so much more I could say to you Mom. But I just want you to know, that I love you. A lot. Thank you for being such a great mom. Happy Mother's Day. You definitely deserve it.

I also want to talk about someone else. Someone not many of us know a whole lot about. Actually, I don't if anyone knows much about Her. But, as it's Mother's Day (no, it really is. It's actually past midnight now...) I figure I should mention Her. Our Heavenly Mother. I've never really thought a whole lot about Her. Of course, I have occasionally for a few moments. But, these past few weeks, when I've been feeling so greatly blessed, I've been thinking. It's a little unnecessary, maybe. But it's just been one of those things that pop into your head, and you get curious about. I've been wondering how many blessings are inspired by our Heavenly Mother. Of course, they actually come from Heavenly Father, because He's the one with the priesthood. But surely, just as in any good relationship, Heavenly Mother is helping and advising our Father. And it just kind of made me think how, I think we kind of just push Her away, unknowingly. I mean, yes, we don't know a whole lot about Her. But we do know that She exists. So why do we kind of just brush that fact aside? Shouldn't we be thanking Her too? I don't know. Maybe I'm just crazy and over analyzing things. But, I want to take this time to also thank my Heavenly Mother for all that she's done. I really don't know what She has done...but surely She's done things for me. So, Heavenly Mother, thank you. And happy Mother's Day. I can't wait for the day when we will meet again. I don't know if it's possible for me to have a relationship with you like I can with Heavenly Father. But I know that you love me. I love you too. Thank you. I hope you have a good Mother's Day, and that Heavenly Father does something special for you. :)

So, happy Mother's Day, all. Go talk to your mothers and let them know how special they are. And once again, I love you Mom. Thanks for everything you have ever done for me.