How sweet it is

Before I begin my "Mother's Day" post, I have to share this picture. Daxlee love, LOVES our dogs and we find her quite frequently, in this position. Today, I even found her laying on Caddy, with her arm around Caddy's neck, poking her finger in Caddy's mouth, with neck craned in close to inspect her sharp dog teeth. Caddy just layed there like she was at the dentist getting a teeth cleaning. What a good dog. What a cute little girl.
How sweet it is to be a mom! I had THE best Mother's Day. Why? Well, because Jake bought me a new car, 5 bags of Cadbury Chocolate Mini Eggs, and a horse... oh wait, no he didn't.

It had nothing to do with presents. It had everything to do with:
~Jake having breakfast cooking when I woke up Sunday morning.
~Choir was canceled so we had plenty of time to get ready for church AND made it before it started (miracles do happen!)
~The spirit was so strong at church during every meeting. I wasn't distracted by kids or anything. They all behaved so well. Even Daxlee slept through Gospel Doctrine. It was wonderful! So GOOD that I even waited to eat the chocolate handed out by the Young Men until AFTER church! I just didn't want to do anything that would take away from the spirit of the meetings.
~Jake made crab, shrimp, potatos, asparagus, and cut up fresh watermelon for dinner. He threw me out of the kitchen as much as I would allow.
~He and Roger (our friend from Jake's program) did all the dishes and left the kitchen sparkling clean.
~Jake was assisted by the kids (mostly as the "clean-up crew" to make sure the beaters and bowl were clean) in making me a delicious Angel Food Cake with a light powdered sugar glaze.
~The kids, Jake, Roger, and I played a game of Blokus that they bought me for Mother's Day. Gage played for the first time and beat everyone! It was the most fun I've had losing in a long time.
~Jake took care of all the poopy diapers and putting the kids in bed. They love when he is home to put them in bed because he's strong enough to give all three of them a ride upstairs. They LOVE it!
Everything was great. It really was a wonderful Mother's Day and I am so grateful to have such a happy family. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I really do have the best kids.

However, Mother's Day didn't end last night for me. Today was a good, normal Monday. But just at the close of day, when I was about to get in bed and read my scriptures, I found this unexpected, tear jerking, "Happy Mother's Day" gift, on my pillow.Interpretation: "Dear Mom I love you so much. I am sorey for the times I did not lisen to you forgive me. Love: Gage"

I had to take a double take because this was so completely unexpected. I even asked Jake if he wrote it. Gage didn't get in trouble for not listening today, that I can think of. He went to bed okay and I didn't have any problems with him. I racked my brains to think of what would have triggered this and couldn't come up with anything except he did it out of the tenderness of his sweet little heart. I felt a flood of emotion come over me. This was just such a sweet, tender gift.

As I was writing this post, Jake reminded me that this morning, we read in the scriptures the part where King Benjamin taught his people about repentance. We talked to the kids about how we repent and that part of that is saying "sorry". For the last few months, we have decided it is worth it to wake the kids up at 6am to read scriptures as a family before Jake goes to work.

I guess this is one of those moments where the Lord has testified to us of how important these few minutes, together in the morning, are. And that, even though it's early, and we're sure the kids aren't listening because they are fighting to stay awake, it really does pay off. They are listening and they will hear the most important things. It's like Elder Bednar said, they (kids) may not remember specifically what was taught but they will remember that they had Family Home Evening (or family scripture study for that matter).

It's hard to describe how this simple little act of Gage's makes me feel. It is more than happiness. It is a conformation that even though I struggle, and feel like the worst mom in the world, I am still doing a good job and the Lord is happy with my work.... and Gage is too.