Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Mid-Week-Mama-Wednesday (MWMW)

I've been wanting to do this for months, and I'm so excited to finally be doing it!

Each Wednesday I will feature a woman who I think is an incredible mama. All too often I hear stories of complaints from women about their role as a mother. And I've heard far too many screaming fits from moms at their children instead of from children at their moms. And while 'to each is own' is a fair statement, to me, as a woman who yearns daily for the gift of motherhood, there is nothing so relaxing, and nothing I am grateful for more, than women who are grateful to be mothers.

It's an honor to know our first MWMW Mama.
She's a thrift-store-rock-star.
She's a bodacious blogger.
She's an awesome author.
She's a money-saving fool.
She's a craft connoisseur.
And she's one of the coolest moms around.

Meet Laura

Isn't she beautiful?

I met Laura about 3 years ago. She's married to "the counselor", and together they have 4 sons and they just recently had their little "Princess Peanut". Laura is a busy woman. She runs a very successful blog called mydeartrash, she has written and still writes incredible novels, she's very active in her community and in her church, and she's a young mother of 5. With her plate so full I'd be a wreck but not Laura.

It seems like anytime I'm somewhere random and fun, Laura is there with her 5 children, sometimes with the counselor, sometimes flying solo, and she's always there to give her kids great experiences.


I've run into Laura at the dollar store buying her sons basketball cards because she promised them that if they did chores all day she would take them to the store. And though the day got away and time was running short, you can bet Laura was there at 8:55 p.m. to make sure she didn't break a promise to her boys.

I've run into Laura at the grocery store lots of times, and each time I've seen her kids bring up some item asking her to buy it for them. Sometimes she says 'yes' and sometimes she says 'no' but it's always said with the same, sweet tone that says 'I love you' much louder than any 'yes' or 'no'.

I dropped by Laura's house, completely unannounced, just days after Princess Peanut was born. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I felt bad for not calling ahead of time, but I shouldn't have been surprised by what I found. Laura was sitting on their beautiful lawn chairs, holding their youngest son who was holding the new baby, and all 3 of the other boys were sitting on the ground attentively looking at the new baby and their mother. It is one thing to see a mother loving her children, but it is a magical thing to see children loving their mother-and I think in Laura's case those 2 things go hand in hand.

The most recent running in to Laura and her family was at a yummy Mexican food restaurant. I immediately snatched up the princess, who immediately snatched up C's heart, and Laura started snapping photos. Here are my favorites:

I love Laura for many reasons.
But today I love Laura for loving her children.
For the way she looks at her children with enough admiration, respect, and love to save the world.
And for loving motherhood.

Thanks for being such an amazing mom Laura. It means a lot to those of us who want to be moms and aren't.

Happy MWMW!