Mother's Day is Wonderful and Carefully Complicated

What a treasure. Getting to spend Mother's Day with my mother. Here she is with two of her three kids. We missed you, big sister.

My parents graciously hosted a picnic at their place, about 5 miles from our house. We are so excited to have them in the neighborhood. Yes, neighborhoods are pretty big here in small town America.

 Celebrating my Mom with most of the grandkids. 

This was the wonderful part.

Here I am with eight of nine. Erik was at a cast party for his Shakespeare play, a year long class culminating in a week of performances.

The complicated part?

The four people who are part of our lives.
The other mothers.
The first mothers.
The birth moms.
The four women who did not get to celebrate in the same way that I did, feeling the love pour out of these amazing children who took a day to appreciate me. Yet, I appreciate them, those four women, so much more, because they chose life for these six precious souls who have enriched my life and made me a better person for having known them.

As I was watching the kids play in the yard and feeling sadness for those first mothers, an awesome sight appeared. The kids noticed it first. A random rainbow at the edge of a cloud. What a gift to remember that God has made a covenant with his people. He remembers us always. He cares for us and I am grateful that each one of us is part of his plan. These children? Those other mothers? He has them all in the palm of his hand.