The Life of a Mom

Chris and I took the girls to the Huntsville Havoc game last night. It was a great game! They were playing the Columbus Cottonmouths, who have been a hated rival ever since Chris played.

The game was tied 2-2 late in the third (and final) period. Huntsville needed to score to pull it out. It was intense and we were watching and cheering. With :30 seconds left in the game, Ann Catherine looks and me and says, "Mommy, I've got to poopie!!"

You have got to be kidding me.

"Right now, or can you hold it until we get home?" I ask.

"I have to go right now!" she answered emphatically.

Those of you with children know, when a child says she has to go, she has to go! Do not pass go, do not collect $100. Go now!

We stand up. "I have to take Ann Catherine to the bathroom," I tell Chris.

He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Now?" he says.

"She has to poop!" I answer.

"No way," he laughs.

So off we go to the bathroom. I know fans were thinking, where in the world are you going?

We get to the pottie and she starts doing her business. I hear the horn go off, which means the period is over. I didn't hear loud cheering, so I figure no one scored and the game is going into overtime. In the SPHL, the players take a two-minute break before overtime starts.

I don't know about your kids, but when my kids have to do number two, it takes a while. There is nothing fast about it.

I hear the game start back up. A couple of minutes later, I hear the crowd go wild. It was obvious we had scored and won the game. And while more than 6,000 fans were screaming and cheering, I was hunkered down in the tiniest bathroom known to mankind (seriously, could the bathrooms at the VBC be any smaller??) with my daughter as she answered nature's most pressing call.

Once she finished, we went back to our seats and Chris was putting Lily's coat on. He looked at us and just started laughing. "Okay, tell me what I missed," I said and he told me how the Havoc had scored. We just laughed about Ann Catherine's timing.

On the way home, I thought about this. Wasn't what happened to me a metaphor for the life of a mother?

Think of all the "glory moments" we miss because we are behind the scenes making sure the mundane things of life get done. Things we get no credit for, but things that have to be done.

It's just the life of a mother. We stay up at night with a sick child and even crawl in bed with them, knowing we will probably get the same sickness in a couple of days. We clean up spills and wipe dirty noses and bottoms, knowing they will be dirty again. We miss the winning goal because we are helping our kids use the bathroom.

There isn't a lot of glory in what we do. We don't hear thank you often. After all, we are mommy. Isn't that what we are supposed to do?

And in spite of all, it's still the greatest honor God has ever given.

**Thanks to those of you who have prayed for Caleb. His mother Debbie has put a new post on his Caring Bridge site. Click here to read it. And please continue to lift them up in prayer.

**Also, I am taking a little "break" from my blog during Spring Break so I can spend time with Chris and my girls. I will be back next weekend. Have a great week!!