Motherhood

This topic has been on my mind for the last week or so. Paul and I were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting this coming Sunday, and our topic is "our divine nature and destiny" stated from The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Since, I feel that our divine nature and destiny is to create families, I'll be speaking on the divine role of mothers. I talked to my mom about it a lot because she is a mother of ten, and always has very good insight. She's also spoken many times and usually has a talk that fits right in with the topic. Being a mother does have it's challenges, especially when so many people think you're absolutely crazy for doing it. But, it has so many more rewards. While I was researching, actually I was blog stalking a friend of mine, I found an interesting article she posted about a woman who is obsessed with reading "Mormon Mommy Blogs". I found it quite fascinating that this woman; atheist, single, "overly educated" as she put it, would be so interested with the everyday in-and-outs of these stay-at-home Mormon women. I highly doubt that anyone outside of our circle of friends and acquaintances read my blog. Anyway, this women talked about these "Mormon Mommies" with super-attentive husbands, Gap model children, perfect homes, and crafts up the wazoo. I will admit that I have a very attentive husband, but I'm glad when my kids are clean, my feet don't stick the kitchen floor, and I don't have any hand-crafts around the house at present. What makes the stay-at-home mom so fascinating? In this article, it seemed that this woman was saying that women who choose to stay-at-home are uneducated, unable to do things outside of the home, or trying to fit in a cultural norm. I read many of the responses to her article, and found that most of them were feeling a little resentful at her article and how she portrayed "picture perfect" mothers who probably took large amounts of prescription drugs to compete with one another. I had to laugh! Most of the stay-at-home moms that I know and associate with are well-educated, highly-motivated, inventive women who try their very best to do what they love to do; be a mommy. There houses aren't always perfect, their children may have peanut butter on their shirts, she may have to turn off a football game to get her husband to make eye-contact with her, but she's doing the best she can, and are usually too busy with the household of children to compete with anyone. This may be silly to blog about, especially since I don't usually share my thoughts on controversial things on my blog (maybe that's why no one comments...), but I'd been thinking about my role as a mother for a while, and had some thoughts.  It's really what I always wanted to do. I did have a Plan B. I wanted to be a pediatrician, but Paul found me during my junior year at BYU, in the midst of O-chem, Functional Anatomy, and Nutrition Through the Life-Cycles, classes I use every day! Although there may be days when I wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't meant the sweetest, kindest, cutest guy to sweep me off my feet, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a mother, to be surrounded by good women who are mothers, to have examples such as my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, mother and very capable sisters that help guide me through the chocolate stains, peanut buttered couches, and apple juice spills. The influence of mothers (women) reaches far and wide throughout the world. Who are we without our mothers, those good women who nurture, love and care for us inside and outside our home? A friend of my mom's posted this about my late sister, " I remember when Tessa and Wes were in Nursery. I thought Tessa was the cutest and smartest girl ever, not to mention, very well-behaved! Then I found out why. Megan was patiently and lovingly teaching her in the hallway at church. I was very impressed and I wished I could be more like her in teaching my own child. She was a great example to me even though I didn't know her very well." We never know who we can influence as a mother, especially when no one is watching or when we think no one is reading. I hope that woman who wrote that article continues to stalk those blogs, maybe someday she'll see us a little differently when she becomes a mother.

My mom and the twins right before I had Ewan.

Paul's Mom dancing with Ewan.

The Einfeldts

Mary (my sister-in-law), Blair and their three girls.

Arianne (my sister), Adam, and their five kids.

Me, Mom, Grandma Crimin at the twins' blessing.