Have you noticed lately how commercialized Mother’s Day has become? Have you seen all the commercials and other ads? I have. While I’m plenty sick of commercialism, there’s something else on my mind.

Infertility.

I’ve been there. I still am hoping to conceive someday, even though this summer marks five years of no pregnancies. I love adoption, and I am thankful for it. Because of adoption, I now celebrate Mother’s Day.

But what about all the other ladies dealing with infertility and loss for whom Mother’s Day is nothing but incredible pain? What about the ladies that turn on the television at night to relax, and end up running from the room crying because a commercial about babies is too painful to watch? (For those of you who haven’t experienced infertility, I am not exaggerating. It is that painful) Then there’s the commercials that remind you that, “There’s only three days left to buy Mom a gift for Mother’s Day!”

What about the ladies who long to be a mother, and yet go months and months with no baby? Years go by, and still no children. What about them?

How was your church service this morning? Were mothers honored? Were those precious, hurting ladies acknowledged in any way?

What about the mothers who have become pregnant, only to deliver their children straight to Heaven? Were they acknowledged? Did anyone mention the mamas whose only children were stillborn or miscarried? What about the mothers whose children have died?

Mother’s Day is painful. Too painful for some women.

Some might have attended church in fear of what lay ahead. I’ve been there too. An excruciating comment made by way of public announcement made me dread all future Mother’s Day services. That comment cut deep. To the bone, even. While I hold no hard feelings toward the one who made the comment, I do find it hard to forget. I will always wonder why I was singled out as being barren that day. The next Mother’s Day, I almost stayed home from church. I was too afraid of what might happen.

How many ladies simply stay away from church on Mother’s Day because they’re not emotionally stable enough to attend without sobbing the entire service?

And what about the ladies who have lost their own mothers? Mother’s Day isn’t always wonderful for them either, especially if the loss is recent. What about the ladies who long to be with their mothers, but just can’t? Whether it be distance, or health, or finances. . .that can make the holiday painful too.

This Mother’s Day, I don’t get to celebrate with my mother. She lives five hours away, and there’s just no way we could go this weekend. We live 12 hours from my husband’s mom. We can’t just take a weekend trip there, either. I miss both my mothers this day – my mom and my mother-in-love.

My grandma is in a nursing home right now, with failing health. Dad’s words to me the other day is that she is “at death’s door.” How painful is Mother’s Day for him today – knowing that this is probably the last time he gets to celebrate Mother’s Day with his mama on this side of Heaven?

So before you just blithely wish every woman you see a Happy Mother’s Day, please think. Don’t forget about the many ladies that have hurting hearts today. . .Pray for them. Love on them. Please help them to have a not-so-painful Mother’s Day today.

(For a great book about dealing with infertility or supporting loved ones going through infertility, check out Hannah’s Hope: Seeking God’s Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage and Adoption Loss by Jenni Saake)

Every year, on Mother’s Day weekend, the town of Williamsport holds a town-wide garage sale. Their advertisement in the paper stated that last year they had over 70 families participating, so Stephen and I decided to go. My grandmother even gave us cash instead of birthday gifts for our little guy, knowing our plans to attend.

Wow – there were garage sales everywhere! We were very glad for the stroller. It made things much easier!

The first one we stopped at I got several tops for $.10 and $.25 each…..but the dress I got was a real steal. I wasn’t sure if it’d fit, so the lady let me try it on. It did. It was brand new, with the tags still on it. It was originally $178 but had been marked “down” to $117.

I paid $1 for it!

Stephen was laughing at my excitement, but come on! That’s a fantastic deal! It’s a gorgeous teal-colored jacket dress with embroidery and beading around the hem of the jacket.

I wasn’t able to find as many boy’s clothes as I had hoped. We were able to pick up a couple things for him, though. One of the last sales we went to had a Little Tykes workbench – the one with the pegboard and things to play “workshop” with. The price? $2. I was very happy with that purchase too. Stephen’s mom has one at her house that’s really similar, and little Bug just loves it, so I was thrilled to be able to find him one of his own.

Yep – we did good. Especially so if you consider that we spent less than $10 for everything!

After church tonight, the pastor’s wife asked us if we could drop a couple of girls off at their home on our way. We agreed, and Stephen went outside to go fasten our back seat back into the van (we had just driven a lawnmower in the back, so he had unfastened the seat and moved it forward. We hadn’t had a chance to fasten it back in yet). I stayed inside and chatted with a few of the ladies while I was waiting for Stephen to come tell me he was ready.

As I was leaving the building, a man I have never seen before came around the corner of the church building carrying my son.

“Does this little guy belong here?”

I was dumbfounded. I stood there for a moment, glued to the ground, absolutely shocked. In that terrible moment, I realized that a stranger was bringing my son back to me, and that I had not even realized he was gone.

There had been several girls playing outside, and I honestly thought that he was with them or that Stephen had him with him.

I was wrong.

Somehow had had managed to slip away to the neighbors, and the neighbor was kind enough to bring him back.

A thousand what-ifs ran through my head. I could barely speak on the way home. My heart literally hurt at the close encounter we had just had.

All I know to say is just how thankful I really am that the man who found him was kind enough to bring him back. Thank you, Lord!

I discovered today what an adventure all-out potty training can be. I also discovered that I need to go get more training pants! Today was the first day I put my little guy in training pants instead of diapers. I’ve put him on the potty before (and he’s gone), but I figured I’d go all-out.

By 11am we had gone through 4 pairs of underwear. We only have 9 pairs. I started getting mental images of me washing all his other pairs while he naps, and then washing again at night after he goes to bed!

I thought 9 would be enough. . .(ok, you experienced mamas can laugh at me), but apparently I was waaaaaaay wrong! I had no idea how many times a day a little boy has to go!

We’re having taco salad. It’s different from what most people call taco salad. Instead of adding taco seasoning to the meat, you put a can each of cream of mushroom and cream of celery soup to the ground beef…..then you stir in half a pound of grated muenster cheese until it’s melted and not so stringy.

To serve it, you put Fritos on the plate first, and crush them (the kids always seem to like crushing them on the plate; I know my brothers and I sure did growing up!). Then pile on shredded lettuce and chopped tomato. Spoon the hot meat sauce over everything. YUM!

It’s only 1 pm and I cannot wait – this is one of my all-time favorite meals.

Have you ever wondered why God brings certain things into your life? Wondered why we have to experience the pain? Have you ever watched the pain of another person and realized that you have no idea how to comfort them because you have no idea what they must be going through?

It has been interesting to see what God is doing in my life this past couple of weeks. Three times there have been situations that have arisen that I have had no idea how to deal with. Three separate people, three entirely different sets of circumstances. Yet, each time, I have walked away with the knowledge that I had absolutely no idea how each person was feeling.

I Peter 3:15 says to:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and [be] ready always to [give] an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

Another verse that comes to mind is 2 Timothy 4:2.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Both verses just impress upon my heart the urgency to have an answer ready for any time that it is needed. While I may not be a preacher – I still need to be instant in season. I need to be prepared for whatever may come my way.

It’s just like God when He’s teaching you a lesson – on Wednesday night our pastor’s sermon was on being prepared. I just sat there thinking, “Ok, Lord, I’m listening. What can I do to be more prepared?”

But what about the pain that we go through? As hard as some of life’s circumstances can be, we go through them for a reason. Moments ago, I was reading a post on Hannah’s Prayer that one lady wrote about some of the things she’s learned through her situation. It really made me think. What if God had us go through our infertility so that we can encourage someone else later – because we’ve been through it ourselves? What if God had us go through a job loss and unemployment so that we can understand somebody else when they go through it? What if God had us remain a lower-income family so that we can truly understand what it is like – so that we can encourage someone else? What if?

I believe that God brings us through difficult circumstances so we become prepared for the next time we see the situation – whether in our lives or in that of another. We would be able to sympathize – to truly empathize – because we’ve been there.

I can’t claim to understand God’s reasoning, but it sure does make sense, at least to me.

We just got home about two hours ago. I’m really tired, and there’s a bunch of things that need to be done before church tonight. I’ll try to post more tonight or tomorrow morning.