“If you think my hands are full, you should see my heart.” – unknown

I think the above quote is my new motto. It truly is the best statement for who I am and where I’m at in life. Yes, I do a lot of other things, but first I’m a mom — and there’s never been a question that my hands are full.

Isn’t that the truth for all of us, once we welcome a first precious child into the world, into our family?

I remember the day I held my third son in my arms and brought him home to be with his older two brothers, 17 months and 2 1/2 years old. He felt so light and tiny and perfect, as had the other older two when they’d come home. But there was something about that third that made the family complete. We’d hoped so much for three, and every one of them was / is an absolute miracle. Also, after the third, I realized my outnumberedness. My hands were full, yes. They still are. But that can’t begin to describe how I feel in my heart. It’s overflowing — sometimes overwhelmed — but always grateful.

This weekend is Mother’s Day in the U.S., a Hallmark holiday, as I discussed with my Dutch friends this past weekend. Of course, that does explain it. We need to give cards and flowers and have lunches and presents for moms, but that doesn’t cover half of it. It’s a day to also pause and say, Wow, I’m so lucky to get to be a mom to these precious people.

I can attest that most days aren’t easy. There’s always so much to be done. But that might also make it even more important to stop and breathe in the gifts we’ve been given on this day, on Mother’s Day, and hopefully every day. We are loved. We are moms.

As a tribute to some of my favorite moms:

10 Favorite Quotes about Motherhood and Moms

“Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.”
― Maya Angelou, Mom & Me & Mom

“My mother … had a very deep inner spirituality that allowed her to rebuild her life. It’s extraordinary that she had such a strong sense of self and such a commitment to the future and such a strong creative sense that she could build new worlds for herself and for us out of the total devastation in her life.” —Caroline Kennedy

I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

She never quite leaves her children at home, even when she doesn’t take them along. ~Margaret Culkin Banning

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. ~Sophia Loren, Women and Beauty

“Kids don’t stay with you if you do it right. It’s the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won’t be needed in the long run.” —Barbara Kingsolver

“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.” —Jill Churchill

“To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.” —Maya Angelou

“My mother was a reader, and she read to us. She read us Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when I was six and my brother was eight; I never forgot it.” —Stephen King

“Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark … to have been loved so deeply .. will give us some protection forever.” —J.K. Rowling

Have a wonderful Mother’s Day to all! xo