Saturday, May 11, 2013

The True Meaning of Mother's Day

As a girl with two brothers, I always wanted a sister. Always. My brothers were usually pretty good at playing Barbies, dolls and school, as long as GI Joe got to come along.

Luckily my brothers married well, and by “well,” I mean they each married smart, sensitive, thoughtful women, and I picked a husband with a great sister. I am truly blessed to have three PHENOMENAL sister-in-laws that I think of as the sisters I never had. I love them all.

On this Mother's Day weekend, I want to say an extra special shout-out to my sister-in-law, Mindy. This week she and Jason received some fantastic news about their beautiful twins, Maddie and Mason. These two kiddos have fought so hard since the day they were born. They were born teeny, tiny at 27 weeks. Maddie was 1 1b 4 oz and Mason was 2 lb 4 oz. They have endured many hours of therapy and too many doctor visits to count. This week the kids tested to be in a general education kindergarten next year!! Most parents will never had to worry about such things. But to others, like my brother and sister-in-law, it
was a HUGE milestone that seemed unreachable at times. But they never gave up. NEVER. Through faith and prayer, love, hard work, and trust in each other, God’s grace can provide.

As much as prayers and faith have to do with this, I really, truly, believe that this has just as much to do with Mindy's tenacity from the very beginning to make sure that they found the best doctors, they never settled with just one doctor’s opinion, she asked questions – hard questions. She was always searching for the right foods, the right climate, the right preschools, the right everything for Maddie and Mason, and their little brother Jackson, too! She has done all the (even) tougher stuff too. She made sure Maddie wore the helmet when she did NOT want to wear it. She made sure the kids wore their glasses when they did NOT want to wear them. She made sure they got the nutrients they needed when the textures were tough for their little bodies to figure out. Getting (and keeping) them on a very strict schedule, feeding them the right foods, reading to them, ANNNND always making sure they had FUN whenever possible!!! I can't even imagine how hard these first five years have been for her and Jason. But I can tell you she would say it was all worth it just to see these two thriving and growing and learning and dancing and singing and loving everyone and everything around them. They are two of the MOST beautiful, sweet, sensitive, smart, polite kids I have ever met. I'm not just saying this because I'm their aunt either - they really, really are super kiddos.


I love you Maddie and Mason – and I love you Mindy for being a FANTASTIC mother to my niece and nephews.

Happy Mother's Day Sis!

1 comment:

Mindy said...

Thank you so much.You made me cry. You truely don't know a mother's sacrifice until you have your own. It was a hard journey, but would do it again in a heartbeat.I look up to you too. You are a fantastic mother. You have raised Braden up to a wonderful,respectful young man.He works hard in everything he does. You and Brady have done such a great job that I hope Maddie, Mason, and Jackson are like him when they get older. I wished we lived closer so we can see each other more often.We love you guys lots. Happy Mother's Day.