Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!! This is my very first Mother's Day ever!!!!! It is also the anniversary of the day that I found out that I was pregnant with Seth... almost. Here's the scoop. It was our last round of Follitism treatments. They knew exactly which day I ovulated on, and at the clinic, your pregnancy test was exactly two weeks from that day. I counted it up, and I paused in disgust when I discovered that it fell on Mother's Day. Not being the optimistic sort after 3 years of failure after failure, I immediately decided that this must be another test from God to see whether I'd have a good attitude after finding out my last round was a no go, on Mother's Day no less! I was not amused. David, however, was very excited. He was sure I was pregnant, and he wanted me to enjoy Mother's Day. I realized that they didn't do pregnancy tests on weekends, so I would actually find out the Monday after Mother's Day. I was relieved, but David was not. He wanted me to see if I could get them to test me early, on Friday. I very reluctantly asked for him, but they refused. I appreciated that. If the news was good, it would've been the best Mother's Day present I could've received, but if the news was bad...well, I just couldn't handle that on Mother's Day. So I didn't go to church on Mother's Day, having had all I could take of watching moms stand to be recognized and receive roses year after year. But the next day was a totally different story. They waited until late in the day to call, and I'd been a wreck all day. The nurse called, and she was being so matter of fact that I knew it was over. I just knew. Then she said, "I just wanted to let you know that you pregnancy test was...positive." The first words out of my mouth, unthinkingly, were "Oh, my God," but really, in that context, it was actually a shocked prayer in a way. =)

For those of you out there who are finding it hard to cope with another Mother's Day rolling around, I want to share a story with you. It's not my story, but I know my friend won't mind. I have a friend who endured six miscarriages. The first one happened at 8 1/2 months, and she had to go into labor and give birth to a dead child. After that, she had miscarriage after miscarriage. The doctors couldn't find out what was wrong. Her heart became harder and harder. My friend wasn't a Christian, but her husband was. On Mother's Day, after enduring 6 miscarriages, he begged her to go to church with him. She sat, arms crossed, just trying to make it through. Then the pastor said something completely unexpected. He said, "I know that we usually talk about moms on Mother's Day. But today, I want to talk to all of you who want to become moms and can't." He asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes, and then he asked all the women in the room who wanted to become mothers but couldn't to stand up. My friend did, and she looked around and saw many women standing all around her. Then he continued: "I want to tell you today that Jesus has not forgotten you. He loves you, and he knows how much you're hurting today." My friend said that she got saved that day. She didn't know it yet, but she was carrying her first beautiful daughter that she would get to keep on this earth. And now, she believes that those children that she lost actually saved her life by sending her to the Cross in her grief. She can't wait to see them in heaven, but she's thankful that she can parent the ones she has on earth for Him.

I hope that gives you some hope on Mother's Day. I know you're hurting, and so does He. He loves you so much. And I hope you will let Him wrap His arms around you today and every day.