A fun post for mothers day for ALL you mama's out there, and meet our newest contributor!

Hey guys, 

I think that post title was the longest ever, but I couldn't think of a title for this post. 

I have someone I'm super excited to introduce you too, meet Jessa, our newest contributor over here at Give1Save1 Africa!  You can read about her and her husbands amazing adoption journey here on her blog, head over and get to know her a little, leave her some encouragement or just say hey.  You'll be seeing her post around here so you'll wanna check her out ;) I asked to to write a little bit about Mother's Day, since it's coming up super soon and all, and there are a lot of different emotions for everyone depending on what stage you're at in life, so-without further adue...Jessa...

There are few things in life that I have dreaded more than Mother’s Day.

Bungee Jumping.

Socially Awkward Situations.

Plague.

Mother’s Day has always fallen somewhere in the middle of those.

You are given a year grace period after marriage where Mother’s Day sails on by without a second glance. A card to your own mother, a few “Happy Mother’s Day” to some ladies you know, and you are good.

Even handing out carnations to the women who walk into church is a joyous occasion!

I’m not sure why Mother’s Day always falls on a Sunday, but “holiday makin’ peeps” certainly weren’t thinking about church-going women that struggle with infertility when they dubbed Sunday as the day.

No. No.

Not thinking at all about the fact that you will be surrounded by an abnormal amount of people who all have the same question:

So when are YOU going to be a mommy????

And I don’t know about you, but while enjoying a perfectly stuffed cream cheese Danish, sipping a far too weak cup of Styrofoam encased coffee, and trying to make friendly conversation, the last response you want to hear is…

“Oh. Well. We’ve been “trying”. But it looks like we are facing some infertility issues.”

I imagine this falls into the “Socially Awkward Situations” category.

#2 on the dreaded list.

To the credit of many well-meaning people, they didn’t know what they are walking in to.

I, on the other hand, knew exactly what I was walking in to. And I suppose that is what made the dread of Mother’s Day so daunting.

Until I met adoption.

Adoption has changed everything.

How dare adoption waltzed and mess up my perfectly sarcastic and somewhat miserable view on Mother’s Day. 

I was comfortable in my pity, until God decided it was no longer my time to wallow there.

Beauty from the ashes.

As many who have gone through the process of adoption may know, the phrase “growing in my heart” is thrown around quite a bit.

I always thought it was cheesy but that was maybe before I started to feel my own growth…sans elastic maternity pants.

In the “no show” stage, it is easy to “know” you are in the process of adoption. There is all the excitement that comes from sharing the news. All of the new questions, new trainings, new planning. But, there are days that, other than the mile high stack of paper on your desk, you sometimes just don’t think about it.

And unlike a mostly guaranteed 9 month pregnancy, after 1 ½+ years of waiting, sometimes you don’t WANT to think about it.

But the beauty of growth is that, in its time, blooms (and/or baby bumps) start to appear. It may take months, it may take years, but at some point, it starts to show. And you feel it.

You feel it move you.

You feel it change you.

You feel it as a part of you.

And it is beautiful.

And this year, as I approach Mother’s Day in my full term adoption maternity pants, knowing that we have a daughter waiting for us…

Knowing that we get to see her soon…

Praying for her specifically by name…

Resting in the beauty of God’s timing…

I’m not dreading another year of awkward conversations and the passing up of the carnations.

Actually, God’s promised me a bouquet of roses.

“God sent me to announce the year of his grace…and to comfort all who mourn,

to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion,

give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,

Messages of joy instead of news of doom,

A praising heart instead of a languid spirit.”

Isaiah 61:2-3 (The Message)

So Happy Mother’s Day.

To all of you who are mothers.

To all of you who will one day be mothers.

To all of you who have come from the ashes into the beautiful story of God building family through adoption.