Sunday Smiles from Mother’s Day

Yes, I know that Mother’s Day was 3 weeks ago.

I know that I should have posted this long ago..but…

Better Late Than Never…

That is my motto these days…. so bear with me. These memories are too precious for me not to document them. There are more than 6 but I couldn’t leave any of them out.

However, before I get started l want to tell you that Holly is having a give-away for her 1000 blog post. Click HERE if you want to enter.

Now... on with my belated Mother's Day smiles....

In spite of me spending much of the day in bed, I was happy to be out of the hospital and back in my own home for Mother’s Day …. surrounded by …. loved ones…. flowers…. gifts…. and good food.

It really is a miracle that John and I both survived that awful accident. At first I thought I had lost him. It was the worst experience of my life… and then, here I was 6 weeks later getting Mother’s day flowers from him. What a blessing… my heart overflows with thankfulness and smiles.

The previous day, ProFlowers had delivered beautiful roses from Erin and Patrick and Lynell and Dathan. (I may be a tiny bit biased… but I think my precious girls and grand-girls are the most beautiful flowers in my life’s garden.)

The Young Women from our ward, Marie and Sil also sent me flowers. My family room looked like a flower shop. Smile… Smile….

I think my Son and grandsons are beautiful too… but since they are men I guess I’m suppose to say handsome even though they are gorgeous. David gave me his gift 3 days earlier when I flew home from Utah. John carried it on the plane without even 1 complaint. Smile… Smile.

Ernie loaded up his smoker and all the supplies for dinner and brought them to our house since I could not travel to their home. All of his efforts made me smile.

Lynell and Johnny drove out from Long Beach where Johnny had been competing in the National Gymnastic Meet the past few days. I was thrilled to get to spend a few hours with them before they had to drive to LA to catch their flight home.

Johnny was pooped exhausted after his week of competing…. but we were all thrilled that all of his years of hard work had paid off and out of the 1000s of boys who competed this year, he was one of the 14 who made the National USA team.

That made us all smile.

Here he is showing me the National Team rules book he got.

I was sorry that sweet Lynell had to hurry off to the airport before she got any Mother’s Day dinner but we all appreciated her making the effort to drive out so she and Johnny could spend some time with us… and we were glad that she could get home to her own family just in time to get a call from her Justin who is serving on an LDS mission in Guatemala for 2 years. Smile… Smile

(Notice the basket full of supplies and all the food they brought from home to make dinner for us. What a big job for them.)

While Mindy and Ernie worked making dinner…

…E.J. played piano and Claire sang for me. We had not been able to attend the talent show they were in the day before. It is the first time we’ve ever missed their talent show. That made me sad but having my own special concert made me smile.

Ernie’s smoker produced the best chicken ever made. We were all smiling when our delicious dinner was ready.

I got the invalid treatment royal treatment and was served dinner in bed. Just when I thought all the festivities were over I was presented with one last gift… more charms for my Brighton bracelet. Smile… smile

What a wonderful day!

However, even though the flowers, gifts, phone calls and dinner were very nice and very much appreciated….. they were not the best part of Mother’s Day.

The best part of Mother’s Day is having a precious family…. every one of them…. who love the Lord and love me, as I love them.

I have dear friends who do not have this blessing in their lives. My heart goes out to them. I am so sorry. I do not take my loving family for granted. I realize it is my life’s greatest blessing… and greatest joy. I thank God for them every day…. and I am thankful I am still here with them.

A few weeks ago, after the accident, I prayed that God would call me home to release me from pain I was experiencing. I felt it was more than I could bear for even one more minute….. then I would think of my family. I thought about how sad they would be without me. I thought about how sad I would be to leave them.

I am glad that God didn’t listen to my pleas to bring me back to my heavenly home. Instead, He gave me the strength to go on. He knew my family still needs me and even though I feel rather worthless just lying in bed waiting for these darn ribs to get better, I know that eventually they will heal. One day I will be able to be of service to my family and friends again. I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for you readers too. I know that this is a very long post. Thank you for letting me express these heartfelt feelings.

I hope that each of you have a great week that is full of smiles.