Thoughts on motherhood . . .

"...we live in a world of uncertainty. Never has there been a greater need for righteous mothers—mothers who bless their children with a sense of safety, security, and confidence about the future, mothers who teach their children where to find peace and truth and that the power of Jesus Christ is always stronger than the power of the adversary. Every time we build the faith or reinforce the nobility of a young woman or man, every time we love or lead anyone even one small step along the path, we are true to our endowment and calling as mothers and in the process we build the kingdom of God. No woman who understands the gospel would ever think that any other work is more important or would ever say, “I am just a mother,” for mothers heal the souls of men."
~Sheri L Dew

One of the most gratifying experiences that I have had in my life thus far, has been to give birth to and raise five children. All I ever wanted to be, from the time I was a very young girl . . . was a mother. Oh, how very much I love my children. From the time you know they are there, growing in that secret place . . . you are in love, and it is a love that never dimishes or goes away. Motherhood is an eternal calling.



Once a mother always a mother. It does not matter whether your child is 22 minutes old, 22 years old or 62 years old . . . they will always be your child, and your heart will always be with them . It will rejoice with them in all their accomplishments. It will swell with pride with every milestone reached. It will break with every pain and every sorrow encountered.

You will reach your later years and you will look back, and you will see that all the years spent nurturing and encouraging your children as they grew went by far too quickly. All those days when you just could have sat down and cried for the tiredness . . . and the hours that seemed too few . . . and the hands that never seemed to get all the things done that needed to get done . . . they disappear in a blip, and you will give anything you have in your possession to just have one of those days back again . . . to be able to feel those little arms snake their way around your neck, and smell that sweaty little head . . . and hear that small voice say, in the most tender way . . . I love you mommy.



You will regret all the mistakes you have made along the way . . . and you will make many, no matter how hard you try not to . . . and you will hope that somehow, someway . . . they didn't matter all that much, and that the essence of motherhood . . . the love, the caring, the nurturing, the teaching . . . all the things that really mattered . . . got through intact, and then you will see your child . . . happy, secure, perhaps as a parent themselves, successful in life . . . and you will know that you, despite having messed up from time to time . . . you did a pretty good job.

You will always be afraid for them and pray for their safekeeping . . . no matter how old they get, no matter how successful, no matter how experienced . . . they will always be your baby . . . and you will always care about their well-being and safety. This will never go away. No matter what . . . no matter how.


(Liz Lemon Swindel)

It is a noble calling, ordained from God and the most important job in the world, and it is a calling we all hold . . . whether we have actually given birth to a child, or whether we have been given the responsability of caring for a child . . . as an adoptive Parent, or as an Aunt, or as a Sister or as a Friend . . . We are women . . . and we are all mothers. Loving and leading . . . that is our divine calling here on earth, where we have been entrusted, as women, with the beloved children of our Heavenly Father. He has asked us to love them and to help lead them past the dangers of mortality and back to their Heavenly Home.

“God planted within women something divine. That something is the gift and the gifts of motherhood. Elder Matthew Cowley taught that “men have to have something given to them [in mortality] to make them saviors of men, but not mothers, not women. They are born with an inherent right, an inherent authority, to be the saviors of human souls … and the regenerating force in the lives of God’s children.”
~ Gordon B Hinckley


(my mother, age about 20)

On Sunday it will be Mother's Day in North America. No matter how long I have lived over here in the UK . . . Mother's day for me is always in May. I just can't adjust to it being in March. That is probably because my own mum and all my children are in North America. But it doesn't really matter which day it is, does it . . . because, it is more than just a day, it is a feeling and a special love, and it is about gratitude for that love and special feeling . . . for that unique and wonderful calling in life . . . that, as women and daughters of a Heavenly King, is only ours, and ours alone.

And so, today . . . I give great thanks to all the Mother's in my life, and you know who you are . . . You have blessed and do bless my life in countless ways. I am ever grateful for each and every one of you . . .

And to my children, I say . . . I may have messed up . . . but I love you, and I always will.

Here's a delicious salad I want to share with you today. We've been eating more salads lately in this house, much to Todd's displeasure. (He's such a meat and potatoes man!) I do throw him a baked potato here and there to help beef it up a bit, which seems to calm him down. This tasty Chef's Salad makes a delicious lunch or light supper. You don't have to use sliced turkey if you don't want to, you can use cubed chicken or ham, or both. You can also add some chopped hard boiled egg, which makes it even more substantial.



*Chef's Salad*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A delicious light supper or lunch! Quick and easy and good for you too! A great way to get in some of your five a day with a lucious low fat buttermilk/honey dressing.

For the dressing:
1/3 cup low fat buttermilk
1/3 cup reduced fat sour cream
2 TBS cider vinegar
1 TBS liquid honey
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:
1 large head of Boston lettuce
1 pound sliced roast turkey breast, torn into pieces
1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced
1 cup of alfalfa sprouts or pea shoots
6 radishes, halved and thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled and cut into match sticks
4 ounces of Monterey Jack cheese, cut into strips (about 1 cup)

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a beaker, adding salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Divide the lettuce amongst 4 chilled serving plates. Place an equal portion of each the avocado, sprouts (shoots), radishes, carrots and cheese on top of the lettuce on each plate. Drizzle with the dressing and serve.



Over in The English Kitchen today some incredibly dangerously delicious Cranberry, Pecan and White Chocolate Flap Jacks!