Grateful

So thankful today that God allows me to be mama to my three sweeties...

They are precious gifts to me that I do not deserve.  It is a privilege to nurture and help shape their little lives. 

And I'm so thankful for my own sweet mom who has always modeled what selflessness and love look like...

I also can't think about Mother's Day without thinking of Tariku's birth mom, Bogalech.  She loved her son so much.  In a culture where women who gave birth out of wedlock were shunned, she acted bravely.  She didn't leave her son in the woods or abandon him on the side of the road like many in her situation have done.  She nursed Tariku for three months and then took him to his birth father so that he could have a better chance at survival.  She knew she could not care and provide for him.  I have no idea where she is today.  I have never met her and simply know a skeleton of her story.  I can only imagine what she must feel as a mother who is separated from her child.  Her sacrifice has been our gain and there are days I don't know how to feel about that.  I have so much sorrow for the impossible choices she had to make...and so much admiration for the bravery it took to make them. 

I just have no idea what she must have felt as she handed Tariku over to his birth father... what she must feel wherever she is today.  I just know that she has given us the most precious little boy on the face of the planet.  And I can't thank her enough for that. 

Bogalech, Happy Mother's Day.  You have a beautiful boy with a generous, kind spirit and the brave heart of a warrior.  I know he must have gotten some of those traits from you.  There are no words to properly thank you for what you have given our family.  I know the cost must have been so great to you and I pray that your heart heals as time passes.  Your son is happy, healthy and beautiful.  I hope somehow you can sense that.  I love you and I thank you from the depths of my being. 

Happy Mother's Day to ALL the moms in the world...may you be blessed today!