Why I Love Being A Mom

I'm feeling some lists today so here are my thoughts...in list form.

5 Reasons I LOVE Being A Mom
1) That little face that says "YOU are my world and I trust you!"
2) I have an excuse to do childish things and no one looks at me funny.
3) I get to teach and grow this little girl into a young lady into a young woman into an adult.
4) Her sweet little voice saying "Mommy" and "Bye bye see you"
5) Watching her grow and change, learning more and showing her personality.

5 Reasons I HATE being a Mom
1) Knowing that I can't protect her from all the evils in the world.
2) Knowing the best I can do is point her to the Lord but ultimately it is her choice.
3) Knowing that I will most certainly disappoint her, and she will disappoint me.
4) Feeling the "what-ifs"...will I give her enough of my time? teach her all she needs? love her in the right ways?
5) Knowing that there are battles to fight that will make me unpopular and possibly hated, but doing it because I love her and I have to.

5 Things I LOVE/HATE about being a Mom.
1) Middle of the night cuddle time.  Hate no sleep for me. Love that I get to spend time rocking and loving on her.
2) Filling up the day with play time. Hate feeling uncreative and uninspired.  Love getting to hear her laugh.
3) Tears and boo-boos.  Hate that my child is hurting even though I know it is a part of life.  Love getting to be the one (and sometimes the only one) who can make it all better.
4) Battles of will.  Hate that I have to be so firm with my child and force things on her.  Love knowing that it will change her character and she'll come out the other side better for it.
5) Monitoring closely what goes in and comes out of our home (media, music, words, etc).  Hate that I have to even think about this in the first place as far as both what is available and what I've allowed in the past.  Love knowing that it is a positive thing I can do for both me and my kiddo.  Garbage in, garbage out!

I LOVE being a mom.  I talk about my daughter a lot and frankly it is because more than anything else I do it brings me the greatest satisfaction (and sometimes the greatest insanity) because nothing is more important that growing up my child in the way she should go.  I am blessed to be surrounded by a tribe of great moms that I can call, text or facebook, night or day, for advice and encouragement.  I love knowing that I am not in this battle alone and that together, our children will make a difference in the world just as we are the difference in their world.

Today I am praying for you moms out there who take on the great responsibility of teaching, growing, loving, disciplining, instructing, playing and shepherding kid(s).  You are amazing! (You're a machine!)

I have over 50 emails to answer and a ton of work to get done - but I'm going to go hug my kid before she takes her nap and cuddle with her for just another minute.

Elizabeth