Blessed Beyond Words

For those of you who checked the blog late last night or early today you would have caught my post that 'somehow' got published, but it wasn't yet finished. That MR. NOBODY again!!!

Well here is the real post with photos and all. As if I am not blessed enough just having 11 children, our children decided to bless me beyond words on Mother's Day. Here's a glimpse of my day. It started out with a breakfast of fresh cinnamon buns (my request:)

Then I got some wonderful gifts.

A frame with these photos in it:

And some of my favorite snack foods, red licorice and chocolate.

A necklace with a crown and a note saying that it was a symbol of what I meant to them.

And probably the best gift was a movie interview made by the kids themselves.

It was very very funny.

I wish I could share it with you all but our computer is giving us grief in this area :)

I also got this cheery plant from Josh & Rebecca

Then we went to church where our family sang a song for special number.

From there we headed to Mark's parents for a pizza meal

(another one of my favorites yum, yum).

Then the older kids headed to the Penner's (Rebecca's family) and prepared a special candlelight dinner for Henry, Esther, Mark & I.

Just before the meal the children of both our families serenaded us with this song: (Jen & Kerri changed the words to the last verse because they knew I didn't care for it :) Four years old, with dirt on my face I'd been out in the yard pickin dandelions all day I burst through the front door when I'd gathered enough to give to my mom, to show her my love when I held out my hands she looked down at me, she said I've never seen flowers as beautiful as these She's the one who told me about Jesus she's the one who taught me to sing she deserves, an armful of roses she's satisfied with a handful of weeds Now that I'm older I see with a new light the things that you've done to improve my life together with Daddy you've obeyed the call to train up a child in the way he should go and I want her to know there was never a doubt she's the best mother in the whole wide world During this song Esther & I were given 'literally' an armful of roses. one from each of our children. It was a very special tear jerking moment, can you tell?

And after the meal was said and done we sat around a perfect campfire. You know, the kind where the smoke goes straight up instead of in your face. It was a beautiful evening and an amazing ending to the day.

Thanks again to our children for going through so much work to make this day so special for me.

It is truly an honor and a privelage to be your mom and I wouldn't want it any other way :)

“…this is an unbelievable responsibility God has given us. He has entrusted to us His little person and expects us to be good stewards with what He’s given us, not only in caring for him physically, but spiritually–leading him to Jesus. The enormity of it frightens me. It reminds me of how desperate I am for the strength of the Lord in this life long endeavor. In giving us this baby, God has given us the greatest means of drawing us closer to Himself. We see now, more than ever, how weak we are and how great God is. My baby… my blessing… It is all summed up when I hear his tiny little voice learning to mouth the word I’ve longed to hear. ‘Mama.’”-Ashleigh, from “Mama” on ylcf.org, 2006