Happy Mother’s Day everyone. Mother’s Day has always been an emotional day for me. When I was younger it was a difficult day for me because my mother was not involved in my life, and it was always sad to me to feel like “everyone” had a mom to celebrate except for me (which I now know was far from true).

Then as I became a mom, it became a day that I enjoyed. At first I really enjoyed Mother’s Day simply because it celebrates who and what I am in my heart. I am a mom. I believe that one of the biggest reasons I am here on this earth is to be a mom and to raise children. I treasure that.

As my children got older, I started to enjoy Mother’s Day with them. I cherish my hand-painted flowerpots and plants that I get every year (even if the dang flowers always die). I cherish my painted handprints and my homemade cards. I cherish the hugs and the kisses and hearing “I love you Mom” ten times over.

Once I became an adoptive mother, my feelings towards Mother’s Day grew even deeper and more complicated. On one hand I am saddened at the losses that my children’s first mothers have had in their lives. Some have placed their children for adoption because parenting was not possible, or because due to their circumstances, adoption was the best way they could try to give their children a happy life. Some have not lived long enough to parent the children they gave birth to. My heart aches for them on Mother’s Day. I am well aware that some of the biggest blessings I have in my life were first their blessings, and then their losses.

I also can’t help but think of the moms in the world who have their children and love their children but lack the essential things they need to truly care for their children, things that we often take for granted. I think of moms who are watching their children starve before their eyes because they do not have enough food, or of moms who are watching their children be sick from drinking polluted water, and of moms watching their children suffer and die from diseases that are preventable and treatable in our reality. Those moms live my worst nightmare every day. They are in my heart.

And my heart also hurts for all of the children who do not have a mom to celebrate today. I think of the kids in foster care in our country, who are either separated from their parents temporarily or are waiting to be adopted, and imagine how hard today is for them. How did those kids feel when the kids in their classes at school were painting pots and making cards to give to their moms? How did those kids feel when their teachers taught them songs about how loving and caring moms are?

I know that Mother’s Day is not a day celebrated in many other countries, but I also can’t help but think of all of the kids in orphanages and on the streets all over the world that do not have moms. I think of the babies who don’t have a mom to rock them to sleep. I think of the girls who don’t have moms to braid their hair. I think of the boys who don’t have moms to help them with their homework. I think of kids with no bedtime stories, no kisses good-bye in the morning, no TLC when they are sick and no to cry over their precious handprints made in paint.

Today I think about and celebrate moms everywhere. I celebrate moms who have given birth to their children and moms who have adopted their children. I celebrate moms who parent their children and moms who have entrusted that to someone else. I celebrate moms who have homes full of children, moms with one or two children and moms still waiting for their children.

And I pray for the children without a mom today, and hope that next year many more children will have someone to sing to, someone to give a flower to and someone to call “Mom” on Mother’s Day.

Here are some other posts I have written on moms and Mother’s Day, and if you check out the Adoptionblogs.com home page, there are lots of great posts on Mother’s Day today.

Real Moms

Mother’s Day

More Thoughts on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day for Adopted Children

The History of Mother’s Day

A very unexpected gift