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| With wonderful people from our church family, at the First Response Relay! |
I had a wonderful Mother's Day!
The celebration started a day earlier, on Saturday... as our whole family participated in a 5km Walk-A-Thon called the First Response Relay, in support of the Pregnancy Care Centre, an organization which hubby serves as a Board Member.
Walking in support of life and alongside women experiencing crisis pregnancies... what a beautiful way to kick off Mother's Day weekend! The day was made even more beautiful as over 30 people from our church family joined us for the walk... and together, we raised over $6,000 for the Pregnancy Care Centre!
Friends, that is 40% of the $15,000 fundraising goal that the Pregnancy Care Centre set for this event!!! Wow! All I can say is this... my God never ceases to amaze me!!! He truly is good...
I woke up Sunday morning with a stiff and sore body... I guess the fast-paced 5km walk didn't sit too well with my body! :-) {Note to self: Must push myself to exercise more!}
It was an early morning start for us on Sunday as we had to head out to church earlier than usual. As I sipped my morning coffee, trying hard not only to wake up, but also to will away the soreness that I was feeling all over my body, I settled in to read blogs as is my usual morning routine.
This blog post, one that my girl wrote for Mother's Day, made me feel better in an instant! It made me all the more thankful for the privilege of being a Mom! I'm humbled by grace... thankful for the gift of a beautiful daughter! My boy, on the other hand, made me a hilarious card with "coupons" attached to it. They are to be redeemed for any "favours" that I might want him to do... and, they expire in May 2013... what a funny guy!
I am one proud mama... blessed beyond all measure... ever thankful for God's all-sufficient grace!
Because... the truth is... at first, motherhood didn't come naturally for me. Since I didn't have good parenting role models to emulate, I was lost when it came to the "how-to's" of parenting! I largely credit Jill Savage and her book Professionalizing Motherhood for helping me to cast a fresh and meaningful vision for parenting and motherhood. I stumbled through the early years... making mistake after mistake... yet God is always there to give me a second chance... and for that, I am truly grateful!
To my parents' credit though, they did parent me {and my sisters} the best way they knew how... and God is always good, His grace is all-sufficient... who we are today is truly, truly, truly only because of His Grace! I do have to say this... one of the God-things from my childhood that is forever etched in my mind... is how much faith my mom had {and still has} in her Creator despite the extremely hard things that she had to endure and go through. Each day, I was {and still am} amazed at her strength and her willingness to suffer... truly a beautiful picture of grace.
Ann Voskamp, in a blog post entitled What Every Mother has to Know {Before Mother's Day}, wrote this:
Everything beautiful always begins with a willingness to suffer. Just ask my mother. Mothers were made to have faith. I don’t want to imagine if you hadn’t.
I could have written those very same words about my mom!
Dear Mom: Thank you for always being willing to suffer! Three daughters, each beautiful in their own way, are a direct result of that. I can't even begin to imagine what would've been if you hadn't had the faith you had {and continue to still have}. God's goodness is evident in your life. You live the Gospel... "If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me. If you want to save your life, you will destroy it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it." {Matthew 16:24-25}
The endless cycle of grace...
As I continue to count grace-gifts, these are the things I am thankful for this week... #1395 - #1401:
:: The privilege and gift of being a mother.
:: My mom's life and her willingness to suffer.
:: An opportunity to help bless Haitian orphans through a friend!
:: An opportunity to continue sending impoverished Filipino children to school.
:: A lovely time with co-workers at our company's annual Service Awards Luncheon.
:: The opportunity to help raise funds for the Pregnancy Care Centre.
:: Walking the 5km route in support of life!
Happy Monday, friends!
May you be looking forward, as I am, to a new week of seeing beauty that lurks in every moment!
I am hunter of beauty and I move slow and I keep the eyes wide, every fiber of every muscle sensing all wonder and this is the thrill of the hunt and I could be expert on the life full, the beauty meat that lurks in every moment.
I hunger to taste life.
God.
Let's soar into this new week together, friends... let's do justice, love mercy and walk humbly!
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