Mother's Day

I hope every mother who reads this had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday! Thank you to everyone who wished me Happy Mother's Day. It was a special day. I must admit that I was a little confused about what to do when the pastor asked all the mother's in the congregation to stand up. I hesitated for a moment wondering if I am officially a mom or not since Hannah isn't here yet, but in the end I chose to stand up. It was a sweet moment for me, but I thought about and prayed for women who want to be a mom, but are waiting on God to give them the desires of their hearts. I know how hard Mother's Day can be.

I also thought about Hannah's birth mother. I pray for her (and Hannah's father) every day. Does she think about Hannah and wonder where she is and what she's doing? Does she grieve the loss of her little girl? What difficulties did she encounter that led her to give up her daughter? Whenever I think of Hannah's parents, I think of a pair of finches that nested on our front porch during the spring last year. I was a little concerned because I know how the afternoon bakes our front door in the summer, but it was still early spring. It was fun to watch the parents taking such good care providing for the needs of their little ones. They seemed to be going back and forth with food all day. When the parents were gone, you could tap on the side of the house and watch the babies poke their heads up with opened mouths. That is how we got the picture above. I was relieved when their chicks started flying and left the nest until one day I saw that mama bird was spending a lot of time in the nest again, and realized that she had laid a second clutch of eggs. Summer was coming on and each day seemed to get longer and hotter and dryer. Mama began spending less and less time in the nest until she couldn't take the baking temperatures any more and abandoned her eggs. I cried the day I realized that she wasn't coming back, but I understsood why she had to leave. The conditions were just too extreme and there was no way to take the eggs with her. I cried again when we took the nest down and found five tiny eggs in it.

I know she was just a bird, but my heart broke for her and her loss. Did she grieve for her chicks? Do birds grieve? I don't know, but I think Hannah's mama did. I don't know what difficulties led her to abandon her little one, but they must have been pretty exteme, and I grieve for her and her loss. And I pray for her, for God to take her broken heart and heal it and then to give her the desires of her heart. I pray that she will be in heaven so that we can meet her. I'm thankful for Hannah's birth mother, for carrying Hannah, for giving her life, and for leaving her in a safe place so that she could be found and cared for. I pray God's blessing over her and I will teach Hannah to pray for her too. And one day I hope we'll meet her whether it's here on earth or in heaven.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4