Mother's Day was started by the efforts of a daughter to honor her mother.  Within five years of one state observing Mother's Day almost all other states observed it as well, and it became an official US holiday in 1914.  One daughter loved her mother so much that she sought a national holiday to honor all mothers.  Mother's Day is a time to acknowledge mothers and the great sacrifices they make for their children.  My goal in this series has been to honor all mothers and acknowledge their sacrifices.

While I specifically focused on childbirth, adoption, foster care, and loss, I know that mothers can fall under any combination of these.  Some mothers are all of these.  These moms have valiantly weathered the ups and downs of adding children to their family in multiple ways.  I know some who celebrated the birth of a child after a devastating loss.  Some of her first words when her daughter was born were, "She's alive; she's alive!"  That is something we often take for granted, a baby being alive when she is born.  For a mom who lost her son just one year before, it was not.  It was a constant thought through every stage of her next pregnancy.  I know another mom who waited over a year to be allowed to bring her adopted children home.  Those children were legally part of her family, but she was forced to wait until the country from which she was adopting allowed them to come home.  Both of these moms weathered these emotional ups and downs while caring for the children already in their home.  Moms go through a lot to bring their children home, but that is only the beginning of the journey.

Mothers face a constant barrage of questions and criticisms, often from total strangers.  Right from the beginning people will have opinions on how you care for your child, right down to a boy's genitals!  If you give your child a snack, the quality of the snack is judged.  What you give your child to drink is also judged.  Does your child have an allergy or health concern?  Everyone will know exactly how you should care for your child and cure them of that condition.  If you have ten children with you, you are asked if they are all yours or why you have so many.  If you only have one child with you, you are asked if you have or will have more.  I think Mother's Day is a great time to appreciate how hard moms work to care for their children.  Moms are some of the leading researchers on treatments of illness, vaccines, developmental milestones, and growth rates.  Moms are some of the first people to recognize when something is wrong with their child.  There are many serious conditions that have been caught early because a mom noticed something was wrong with her child and wouldn't stop investigating until she had definitive answers.  Acknowledge moms for their hard work and stop asking them when they will change.

Women facing infertility suffer from these probing questions often.  Once a woman marries, and escapes the "When will you get married?" questions the "When will you have a baby?" questions begin.  For a woman longing for a child and facing infertility month after month, these questions pierce the heart.  Just as a woman can't really control when she will get married, the same is true for having children.  It hurts when people assume that you are childless by choice when that is a consuming struggle for you.  This is amplified even further for women who have suffered the loss of their children.  People see them without children and assume they have none.  This sting is amplified as they struggle to explain why their children are not with them.  I would encourage everyone to keep that in mind this Mother's Day.  Celebrate your mother and acknowledge that it is a difficult day for those who have lost their children or mothers, and those still longing to be mothers.

I am so thankful for my own mother and mother-in-law who have sacrificed and done so much for my husband and I.  My mother-in-law worked hard as a single mom and raised an incredible man who has blessed me greatly.  My mom was not only there to care for all of my physical needs, but she cared for my spiritual needs as well.  I was blessed to learn truths from Scripture at a very young age.  Both of our moms are wonderful grandmothers who love our kids and are always there for our family.  Proverbs 31 gives us a great example of an amazing mother.  We are told in verses 28-31, "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:  'Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.'   Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates."  This is the mother I strive to be, worthy of the honor of Mother's Day.