Being a mom means...

                                                      photo by Robert Escalante

Some people say that being a mother is one of life's highest callings.  That may be true, but I would just like to share with you some of the things that being a mother means to me--for this week, at least.

1.  You get to have spit-up and snot smudges on your t-shirts (especially black ones) and then forget about it and go out in public looking unkempt and dirty.

2.  You walk around all day with silly songs stuck in your head such as "Jimmy Crack Corn," "Down by the Bay," and various other songs including, but not limited to, songs from silly kids shows such as "The Backyardigans."

3.  You hear that ever-so-precious term of endearment, "mom", over and over and OVER again more times than you care to recall, taking a once cute and endearing term, to a whole new level that drives you to near insanity, because it is used in more of a whiny drawl and drawn out version that slightly resembles an ambulance or other sort of emergency vehicle.

4.  You get to experience that touching, mother-baby bonding sensation of being a human vending machine that is open for business at all hours of the night and day.

5.  You have an extremely likely chance of having indigestion at every meal--especially dinner.  Where your "little dinosaur" won't eat any food, keeps getting up and down from the table, reaches over the table, whines, knocks stuff over, and is generally rowdy.  Not to mention the screaming baby you are holding on your knee in one arm, while trying to eat a taco that all of the fillings keep falling out of with the other hand.

6.  Finally, at the end of the day, when you are finally in bed with some time of your own to spend with your spouse, the little boogers wake up and come climbing into your bed and you get a vague recollection of that song that goes, "There were ten in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over. Roll over.'  And you're pretty sure, they must have written that song about you.

7.  You find an insatiable need to crawl to the feet of the Lord and beg for wisdom, guidance, strength, peace, and joy.  And you find all of those things and more, when you do come.  

"Unless the LORD builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the LORD guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,

To sit up late,

To eat the bread of sorrows;

For so He gives His beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

They shall not be ashamed,

But should speak with their enemies in the gate."

Psalm 127