Thanks Mom!

Absolutely the biggest blessing to me since I've become a mom has been my own mom coming over every single week (sometimes more) to help me.  Of course, she is more than happy to come see her only grandchild and enjoy all the smiles and giggles and milestones... but she does more than sit and play.  She does dishes, folds laundry, cleans our bathrooms, takes Shelby out and whatever else needs done.  She babysits so I can go to the grocery store, or even on rare occasions, so I can take a nap.  Especially in the beginning, if she hadn't have done some of that stuff, it just wouldn't have gotten done at all.  Being a mom is hard work!  But she insists... she doesn't like to not be doing something.  In fact, if Josiah is asleep and I don't give her something to help me with, she'd just assume head home :) so I try to take advantage of her motivation! 

Today we had the opportunity to help out a military mom who is new to my church and broke her neck in a car accident a few months ago.  Her husband is deployed and she is home alone in a new town, injured, with a 3 year old and an 11 month old.... doing her best to keep things afloat.  It worked out that she needed someone to come over this afternoon and my mom and I were out with Josiah, so we just all headed over.  And upon entering her home and seeing how desperate she was for some help, I immediately realized just how fortunate I am.  Her children are wonderful and she is as sweet as can be, but she was drowning in the daily duties that are hard enough for a healthy mom of one with a husband at home and family to stay on top of... and this poor mom was trying to do it all alone...with a neck injury that was only getting worse because she doesn't have the luxury of taking it easy.  I was so happy to be able to go over and help her, but even more so, to be able to share my mom.  My mom is great with kids, and with organizing, and she doesn't hesitate to just jump in and do a stranger's dirty dishes.  This girl shared with us that both of her parents are deceased and she's an only child from Canada.  And I could just see how grateful she was to have a 2nd generation mom around.  If I could do nothing else, I was so glad to be able to give her just a few hours of the help that has been given to me each week.  And I knew that for the next few weeks, I could give it to her again.  I asked my mom (who immediately agreed) if instead of coming to my house to help me each week, if we could just go over there and both help her.  It's definitely true that when you serve others, usually you get just as big of a blessing yourself.  I have so many friends who are military moms and who live far from family, and I just continue to be thankful that God has allowed us this season to be here.  It's hard not to get spoiled, but I know how blessed I am, and I just hope to be helpful and be like family to those to who are away from theirs.