Mother's Day weekend 2010

Jason got the moulding nailed in. He just has to putty over where the nail heads show! He did a great job! We joke that sometimes I get distracted admiring his handiwork and what a difference it makes in the way our home looks! :)


Thanks so much for the gorgeous flowers! We're still enjoying them!
Malia cashed in on the soccer goals she has scored so far!


Thank you so much for all the Mother's Day wishes, cards, and wonderful gifts!! I love them all! I'm so blessed to have the influence of remarkable God-like women in my life!!

Thank you Mom, for being such a wonderful blessing in my life!! Growing up there were so many ways I wanted to be just like you, and as an adult there are so many things that I'm still trying to learn from you! Now that I'm doing all the behind the scene stuff Moms do, I really appreciate all of your sacrifices...and I'm sure there are many I will never know of here in mortality! I love you!


The past probably 3 Mother's Days have been pretty rough for me. With a little one keeping me up the night before, I'm a little tired at the get go. Then usually the kids fight the second they wake up, and throughout the day. Jason had meetings and sat on the stand, Makayla would not sing with the Primary kids, and the kids usually had atrocious sacrament meeting behavior. I usually feel guilty for all the things I'm NOT doing well as a mother, and undeserving of any gifts...But when the day's done I just have to laugh, and try to focus on the few highlights of the day, because, sometimes motherhood is like that!

So, when Mother's Day rolled around this year my expectations were generally pretty low. I had found great deals on two books I've really wanted and some things I've needed. Additionally, when another package arrived, I was tickled to know that there was something more for me! It was hard to patiently wait for Mother's Day to start enjoying them, but I thought, What the heck! It may be one of the few things to look forward to. (Not the best mentality, but given the track record... :) )


A few days before Malia said,'I hope you have a good Mother's Day this year.' I must have been in a sour mood, when I laughed very heartily and said, something like, I'm not going to expect that. I was surprised to hear her ask,'Why not?' When I reviewed the arguing, the terrible sacrament meeting behavior and Dad being gone (this year he only had one meeting :), but sat on the stand because he gave a talk, which I thought was very good). Malia didn't say anything.

That night Malia offered to give the dinner prayer. It melted my heart to hear her pray that there would be no fighting, and that Mom would have a good Mother's Day this year. (I had to fill Jason in later, he had the most baffled expression on his face!)

Jason and three of the kids didn't seem to mind picking from the things I already picked out. Malia worked so hard for days on a special present at home. It was cute to hear her say I couldn't go in the yard, or garage, while she was working on a project. She also made some gifts at school, and Jason was sweet and made a delicious breakfast with Jared's help :)... In truth, with all the help Jason and the kids give me on a regular basis, it seems like Mother's Day more than once a year!

Malia's prayer was answered, and maybe it was that Heavenly Father also helped me to change my focus to more positive things... So many times I feel that I've needed and been taught more by these sweet Spirits Heavenly Father has loaned to me!

Another one of the welcome surprises was as we were going out to the car after church. A friend of ours, who is one of the God-like women in my life, took a bag from me that had manuals, scriptures, etc. and loaded it into the front seat. Before she left she gave me a big hug, said some kind things, and handed me a rolled up paper tied with a flower, and a wonderful note which read, ' To, Suzanne, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees...' Happy Mother's Day.

I REALLY love the story, and wanted to share it with you!

Mother....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously, not.

No one can see me if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England.

Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on about the hotel she stayed in.

I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the cathedrals of Europe.

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read- no, devour- the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals- we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' and the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte (Here she inserted my name above). I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right.

And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.


This just reminded me of some verses of scripture
Matthew 6: 3-4, "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."