Day 12 -- "Mom Stuff"

There are some things that can only be done by mom in the Sharp household (that's me, in case you weren't sure):

1) Anything involving bandages, triple antibiotic cream, or isopropyl alcohol.

2) Baking birthday cakes or cupcakes.

3) Picking out clothes to wear for special occassions (or just when it actually matters what my kids and husband look like).

4) Buying, wrapping, and distributing presents for the kids' Secret Santas at daycare.

5) Choosing and/or making halloween costumes.

6) Creating the "Valentine's Day Box" -- you know the thing they use as a valentines receptacle at daycare.

7) Brushing, braiding, taming Lou Lou's hair.  Or not.
Lou Lou and one of her more particularly bad hair days on record.

8) Creating the family calendar each and every month.

9) Distributing the clean laundry into its proper locations.

10) Packing the bag.  For the zoo, for the library, for the beach, for camping...sometimes it's really easy and sometimes it can get really complicated.

Today, as I was baking cupcakes for Breslin's 4th birthday, I found myself sputtering and being generally negative about it.  I stopped for a second to think about how mom-like it was for me to be making birthday cupcakes.  It dawned on me that it is a very special and unique job that I have, among the others I have mentioned above.  These responsibilities are solely mine because I am a mom.  I am lucky enough to have my kids...some people long for children and do not or cannot have them.  I also realized that I will not have these responsibilites forever.  Someday, my kids will be too old to need a bag packed for the trips we take.  Someday they'll be too old or too cool for Halloween costumes.

I changed my attitude immediately.  How thankful I was to be making cupcakes for my almost-4-year-old son! (Who, by the way, will definitely freak out when he sees his name spelled out in cupcakes tomorrow.)  How lucky I am to be the one that my kids turn to when they are hurt or scared!  How blessed I feel to have any say at all in how my daughter dresses or how her hair looks!  I know these things will not last forever.

Thank God for "Mom Stuff"!

Lord, I thank you for the responsibilities that are solely mine because of the fact that you have given me my kids.  I pray that you would help me to perform them with a cheerful spirit and a servant's heart.  Help me to cherish the fleeting time that I have to be responsible for these tasks.  In your name I pray, Amen.

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