He turned 4 this past weekend.
The day before his birthday, we sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn beside us and an activity sheet in our laps. As we placed stickers and searched for hidden items, I felt it then just how much life had changed in the years since he was born.
It was just two years ago when I became his mother in the strangest of ways. I stood in front of a crowded room and pledged to be an open book about God and faith and a life lived in pursuit. And in a moment more powerful and more beautiful than anything I could have anticipated, I became a mother of sorts to this boy I didn't give birth to.
The enormity of it all left me grasping about, unsure if I'd ever be the kind of mother he needed.
And it's true. I am not the mother who carried him within her own body and labored 40-some hours to give him life. I am not the mother who holds his hand in the daylight and sleeps beside him in the dark. I am not the mother who teaches him to count and read and live. And I am not the mother he calls Mama.
He needs her most, this Mama of his. He will always need her most. But I wonder if someday he'll need me, too. In ways none of us can predict or even prepare for. Though I am weak and faltering and oh-so-human, I have been given a gift. A glorious and humbling gift.
I have been given a son.
And in honor of his birthday, I have labored in my own way to create something beautiful for the boy who made me a mother.
Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet, funny, full-of-life godson Corin. You are loved.
(Click here for more pictures and details of the creative process for this project)
The day before his birthday, we sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn beside us and an activity sheet in our laps. As we placed stickers and searched for hidden items, I felt it then just how much life had changed in the years since he was born.
It was just two years ago when I became his mother in the strangest of ways. I stood in front of a crowded room and pledged to be an open book about God and faith and a life lived in pursuit. And in a moment more powerful and more beautiful than anything I could have anticipated, I became a mother of sorts to this boy I didn't give birth to.
The enormity of it all left me grasping about, unsure if I'd ever be the kind of mother he needed.
And it's true. I am not the mother who carried him within her own body and labored 40-some hours to give him life. I am not the mother who holds his hand in the daylight and sleeps beside him in the dark. I am not the mother who teaches him to count and read and live. And I am not the mother he calls Mama.
He needs her most, this Mama of his. He will always need her most. But I wonder if someday he'll need me, too. In ways none of us can predict or even prepare for. Though I am weak and faltering and oh-so-human, I have been given a gift. A glorious and humbling gift.
I have been given a son.
And in honor of his birthday, I have labored in my own way to create something beautiful for the boy who made me a mother.
Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet, funny, full-of-life godson Corin. You are loved.
(Click here for more pictures and details of the creative process for this project)
Thank you, Courtney, for both of your beautiful blankets. They're already being put to good use. Corin is blessed to have you as a godmother!
ReplyDeletecute!!
ReplyDelete@Steve--you are so very welcome. I am grateful for the trust you and Amanda have placed in me and it's an honor to be a part of your family.
ReplyDelete@Laura--thank you, dear friend!