A Tribute to my Mother, my Mother in Law, and my Sisters and Girlfriends (and an update on the baby bunnies)

To my wonderful, beautiful mother:

How I love and appreciate you! You were and are such a great mom. You were always both physically and emotionally present, showed your love in tangible ways, and set a good example of always putting God first in your life. I am indebted to you for teaching me so much ~ I truly do not have room here to count all the ways you have impacted my life! But if I had to pick the most important way you influenced me, I think it would be that you lived out an authentic faith. You didn't sugarcoat the trials, but rather showed how God was real, and invited Him in to every part of your life and our life as a family. Because your faith was so authentic and real, I never went through a period where I doubted God's existence or His love for me. That a real and personal God wanted to have a relationship with me felt as natural as breathing. This is such a gift! Thank you.

When I became a mother myself, I was overcome with how much you and daddy loved me. I always knew you did, but the intensity of those parental emotions did not really impact me until I felt them for my own baby. All that I felt for our new baby (each one!) I suddenly realized you had felt for me. I am so incredibly blessed to be your daughter. I hate it that we live so far apart, but I'd much rather be far geographically and have hearts knit together, than the other way around. I love you. I admire you. I am thankful for you. I depend on your prayers and though I am a very grown up "medium" mother myself, I still need you. Happy Mother's Day mom!


To my strong, amazing Mother in Law:

Thank you for raising my husband to be such a responsible, hard working man who deeply values God and family! Thank you for shaping him to be the man that I fell in love with. He is such a blessing in my life. Though we had some rocky mother-in-law/daughter-in-law moments early in our marriage, I have come to greatly admire what a strong woman you are. You have weathered many hardships well, that would have broken others. You have such a caring heart, and I love that you are so loyal. You are a fantastic grandmother to our children, and it is a very real blessing that we live close enough to be a part of each other's lives! I love you very much. Happy Mother's Day!


To my two wonderful, beautiful sisters:

Both of you mean so much to me. Though we don't know the ins and outs of each other's daily lives, I count you as my closest friends. Both of you married and had children long before I did, and so I was able to observe and learn by your example. Thank you for teaching me so much about marriage and relationships and parenting!! (even when you didn't know you were!) And then my older sister had pity on me and had two more children later in life that would be the same ages as our older two! Thank you! (I know you did that just for me.) You both are amazing mothers who are showing me every day the fine balance between holding your children close and letting them go to be the people God has created them to be. I love you so much. Happy Mother's Day!


To my many girl friends:

You all are such blessings in my life. Thank you. I am richly blessed by wonderful friends in real life, great cyber friends, friends from previous chapters of my life who I have lost touch with but had a positive impact on me, long distance friends, and golden oldie friends whom I have known for a long time and whose friendships I am still enjoying. I love that I have friends of all ages. Many are in the same stage of life as me, some have older kids and they encourage and mentor me as I look to the next stages of parenting. Some of my girlfriends have younger kids than mine, and I am able to encourage them that "this too shall pass". Some do not have children, and some do not have husbands, but they love God and embrace His plan for them. God is so good! Thank you, each of you, for being real and vulnerable and honest and funny and kind. Thank you for teaching me, encouraging me, sharing your life with me, praying with me. You are such treasures in my life. Happy Mother's Day!

My hubby barbecued steaks for us for Mother's Day today.....in the pouring rain! Here is he, standing just outside our doorwall, trying not to get either himself or the steaks too wet! Thank you honey! After a wonderful dinner which we shared with my hubby's parents, we did just what I wanted. Played board games. We had loads of fun! I love my family!


And here is a quick update on the baby bunnies we found in our yard yesterday. The mother did come back to nurse them in the night. We peeked out around midnight and she was there. All 8 babies survived the night! It began to rain a very cold rain today, and against our better judgement we left them outside when we went to church. When we got back, they were all soaked through and very, very cold. We brought them in the house and they spent the day wrapped inside a towel, inside a glass aquarium that was sitting on top of a heating pad set on low. Did you know you can google "baby bunny rehabilitation" (insert any animal name before the word rehabilitation) and find out tons of info on rescuing little wild creatures?

One baby died shortly after bringing them in, but the other 7 warmed up well and were so incredibly cute all snuggled together. Based on the info we learned online, we knew it was "safe" to pick them up (mother rabbit would still come and take care of them even if she smelled our scent) so all the children got to take turns holding these tiny babies today. That was a big hit!

We knew we had to put the babies back in their nest before dark so they would be there when the mother came back, but it was still raining and pretty cold. So we made an outdoor incubator by placing a 7 watt night light inside a glass jar, plugging it into a long extension cord, covering the jar with a sock, and placing the babies back in their nest cuddled up next to the jar. We also covered them with one of the children's umbrellas. I hope the mother won't freak out when she sees the nest "disturbed" but that seemed a lesser risk than the alternative which is trying to feed 7 baby bunnies ourselves. Our children are all praying they survive another night, and I admit I am more than a little anxious for them myself!

Here they are in their outdoor nest. You can barely make out their tiny heads between the lighted jar and the umbrella handle. We have told the children that more of the bunnies (perhaps all) will probably die, but we also told them that we don't want them to die if it is within our power to help them. I'll keep you posted!