IT'S HERE

My doorbell just rang. It never rings. I knew in an instant what it was.

As I walked from the kitchen to the front room I saw the FedEx truck in my driveway.

That poor innocent FedEx girl. She didn't know what she was getting into.

I opened the door with a squeal, and said "OMG that's my LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER book from Snapfish"

She couldn't hand it to me fast enough.

It's HERE! The book is here. My heart is full!

And, the book is beautiful. It's the perfect combination of all of us. It's like having a piece of every single person that was a part of the Listen To Your Mother shows.

I will NEVER be able to explain what I got from LTYM. Sometimes words aren't enough. Sometimes feelings can't be labeled. Sometimes gifts and blessings can't be counted.

Listen To Your Mother gave me, at the very least, my voice back. This book will be a daily reminder.

I came, I saw, I wrote, I spoke. We cried.

Thank you will never be enough, but, THANK YOU Ann Imig, Lela Davidson, Stephanie Funk McCratic, and Snapfish!

Bragging Rights

I've got to give the Dad and myself a few pats on the back. It seems that throughout the craziness that is our life of wrangling 5 children, we must be doing something right.

Last month I told you all about Daughter 1 being asked to prom, the week of prom, by a senior boy who found himself without his previous date.

Daughter 1 was excited but cautiously hopeful in her preparation. (We aren't raising naive children around here.) In fact she was so cautiously hopeful that she didn't allow herself to get excited till 9 am the morning of the prom as I sat to do her manicure.

Don't worry, she didn't get stood up or anything. She went and had a good time and more importantly followed all the rules we had laid out.

In preparation for the big event we had the boy over for dinner. We expressed our concern with the timing of things and how it might be perceived and where that would fall on our daughter. He assured her, and us that things weren't exactly friendly with his ex-girlfriend/prom date but, that things were definitely done and in an ok place. So we allowed her to go and have since  kept a close eye on the friendship/high school relationship.

So here's were the bragging and patting on the backs begin.

Today, Daughter 1 sent me a string of text messages:

Text 1. "He's not over her."

Text 2. "Don't worry I'm not sad or anything. I'm mad."

Text 3. "I deserve better than that."

Text 4. "So does she."

Text 5. "By the way I got a 94% on my Biology semester test."

As I read my daughter's first message my heart began to hurt for her but, before I could text her back and say something mommy-like she sends the second and then the third.

By the third message I was smiling. "I deserve better than that."

She had been listening. She had been hearing us as we told her nightly we loved her and she deserved the world. She knows it's the truth.

As a Momma there are countless dreams and hopes I have for my children. Self respect and awareness is problem on the top of the list. To witness my 16 year old little girl define her worth is amazing. She is wise. She is kind. She is beautiful. She is loved. And, she knows it.

SHE KNOWS IT!!

Points for the Momma and the Dad we ARE doing something right.