Happy Mother's Day

My gift from the girls and Dave. The signs the girls are holding says "I love Mommy" in chinese characters. This picture was framed in an 8x10 frame and left on the end table for me to see as soon as I came into the livingroom.
When it was midnight, I was still up waiting for Jade to come home from her prom. Her and Jason strolled in shortly after 12:30 and Jade still had a smile on her face and looked just as radiant as what she did before Prom started. We talked for a while and she said she had a lot of fun, but wasn't used to the kind of dancing that a lot of the people were dancing to. I finally went to bed at 2 in the morning, she still had to much adrentaline in her to go to bed. Monika came crawling into my bed around 7. A few minute later, Jenny came in the room and handed me my mother's day card, follow by Monika getting hers. When I got out of bed and into the living room I saw the beautiful picture...Then Katie gave me her card that she made. The younger girls asked if we were having a party today, and I said yes...They started cleaning and dusting the living room. I have them trained well. Shotly before the family arrived, Monika was having some stomach pains to the point where she was crying and curling up in a fetal posistion. I checked her out and didn't notice or hear anything out of the unusual. After about 5 minutes it subsided and she was back to herself. We told her that we would need to take her to the hospital if it happen again. Shortly after people arrived the pain came back and she said she wanted to go to the hospital, so Dave took her....4 hours later the verdict is being a little backed up and bad case of gas. We had a wonderful mother's day gathering of both sides of family here. I lit four candles for each of our girls birth moms. Jade talked to her mom and was able to wish her a happy mother's day.
It is amazing how being a mom can change your life. 6 years ago I celebrated my first mother's day. We didn't have Monika home with us yet, but had her picture. Even though I hadn't held her yet, the love was there and I felt I already bonded, that I knew every part of her body and sould even if I could only see her face. Two year later as I celebrated 3rd mother's day, I was a mom to 3 little girls. Again I didn't have Katie and Jenny home yet, but had some pictures of them. My 6th mother's day I now am a mother of 4. Some days being a mom can be very challenging, they know what buttons to push, know how to get your attention whether it is good or negative attention, but it is nothing compars to the smiles and laughs you hear from them, them saying "mommy", "I love you" and the all time best "you are the best mommy in the whole wide world". The hugs and kisses you receive, the littlest things like a picture, a look, a present, watching them overcome something or accomplish something. I have learned so much for each one of my 4 girls.
I want to thank my mom and Dave's mom for giving us life, for teaching us to be good people and parents. Being there to help us whenever we needed help. For helping us become parents ourselves. For all the encouragement and guidance you have given us all of our life. For supporting us with our decisions, even when you didn't agree with it. I would also like to say thank you to God and everyone that play such important roles, no matter how small of a role it was to helping us to become parents to Monika, Katie, Jenny and Jade. Thank you to the birth moms of our daughters.
On a little side note, please say a prayer for a dear friend of my. Her mom had some back surgery almost two weeks ago and ran into a lot of complications and is got an up hill battle to recover.