Sacrifices

As a mom, there are numerous times where one has to make sacrifices for her children. This morning was one of those mornings.

I received an email from my son's second grade teacher saying he was going to receive an award at their school assembly today. I decided that it would be important to go, since after all, I am his mother.

As I'm packing my two babies into the car to head over to the school, they are both suddenly struck with a case of the grumps. I quickly realize that this may be one of the longest and most inconvenient hours of my life. If my son had not asked me if I was coming and if I had not said yes, I probably would have just said "forget it" and stayed home. But no, I made a promise to my boy and I needed to make sure he knew I was there.

I get to the school and unload the stroller then place the babies in their seats. That's when I realize I have not brought any snacks or anything for my 2-year-old to play with. Wow, this really is going to be a LONG assembly.

Not many people are there at first, so I pick the seat that I think will be the easiest to get out of. Everything is fine for about 5 minutes, then my daughter starts to get bored. Yeah. I'm looking around as other parents are filing in with their well-behaved toddler children and I'm feeling like the only mom that doesn't have anything put together. In about 10 minutes the assembly starts and that's just about the point when my daughter starts screaming and my son starts crying.

After I get a few irritating shushes from the goody-two-shoes fourth grader in front of us, I move to the very back of the room, where I notice a few other moms with younger kids are standing and I figure this looks like a great spot to be. I kept asking myself why on earth I didn't just leave...what kept me there was the smile I got from my son when he saw me.

I happen to stand next to a lady whose son was playing a video game on the floor. While I'm trying to calm the baby, I see her crouch down next to my two-year-old and ask her if she wants to color. My daughter happily says yes, and is given some paper an crayons.

I happily thank the kind lady as she explains that she has two kids close in age like my two youngest, so she's been there. I smile and tell her it was one if those mornings where I just kept asking myself what on earth I was doing there. She smiles back and says she has those days quite often.

It was in that moment that I realized that my attitude was the one that was the rotten one. Yes I was miserable. Yes my two kids were horrible...but in the end, none of it was about us. It was about being there for my second grader. It was about showing him that I loved him and supported him no matter what. Talk about God showing up and shining a light on a very ugly part of my heart!

I know that there will probably be so many more uncomfortable and inconvenient situations I'm thrown into as a mother. I just hope and pray that I am reminded that none of it is about me. It's about my children knowing that they are loved and that we are proud of them.