My lunch and what it says about being a mother

So, bear with me here. This post will be a little mushy.

As I was eating my lunch and thinking about mothers and what I could say on my blog about them I realized that what I was eating really summed it up in a nutshell. You'll see where I'm going with this. For lunch I had a salad of the following:

Leftover Feta cheese and Tzatziki sauce: leftover from the greek lunch I made for my sister when she was visiting

Chopped Apples: I bought for the kids to take camping even though they are not on sale

Leftover Mexican rice: I made for our Cinco de Mayo party

Bagged Salad: I bought on my way home last night so the sitter would have something to feed the kids while we went to the temple, although the kids decided they didn't want salad so it was never opened.

Dessert: mini chocolate treasure from Mara's teacher for putting together the music for kindergarten graduation today.

I know, weird combination. But what does this say about mothers--

1) Mothers are creative: we are always putting together school projects, halloween costumes, meals and all kinds of different things. Most of the time we are tired too. It's hard to be creative when we're tired but that's what we do. Only a creative person would think of these things to put in a salad for lunch.

2)Mothers are resourceful: we are always finding ways to make the best of any situation. Just the same as I wouldn't want any of this food to go to waste so I am throwing it together and calling it lunch, there are so many times that we are in a jam and have to figure out what we can do to keep ourselves sane and the kids happy in a difficult situation.

3)Mothers are good at time management: From my lunch today you can tell that in the last week I have 1)had a Cinco de Mayo Party 2)had a houseguest 3)gone camping 4)put on music program for Mara's kindergarten class 5)gone to the temple 6)gone shopping for all the events, not to mention all the other many, many things that have gone on. Mothers are constantly running to and fro doing everything and trying to keep track of everything.

4)Most of all-- mothers are SELFLESS: We give our time, love, talents, energies to our children. We are constantly thinking of our children, doing things for them, living for them. And not just them. Once we are mothers to our own children; we are mothers to everyone. For lunch all the things I ate were things I had purchased/made for others. Not to say that I don't do things for myself but everything I do for myself helps me to be a better mother-- getting more education, exercise, etc. helps me to be more for them. As a mother, you in essence live your life for them. I'm all for feminism but I firmly believe that you lose yourself to find yourself. As a mom, you give everything you have to your children and in the process learn so much about yourself and are actually gaining more in the long run.

Being a mother is difficult. And mothers are not perfect. That is exactly why we are so amazing. Because we are not perfect and yet are willing to try and learn and grow from the experience. I am so grateful for my own mother and all the other mothers in my life for their examples good and bad. I learn and grow from their examples.
I thank the Lord EVERY DAY for the opportunity to be a mother. Every Day!

So, for Mother's Day my gift was that I get to be a mom to these beautiful children.
I couldn't ask for more! Who wouldn't love these beauties? (These pictures are from last weekend at Bryce and Zion National Parks in Southern Utah.)