The Hardest Job In The World.

I had to watch this 4 minute video as part of a lesson in school, and It really really touched me! The love + support + sacrifice my mom shows me day after day is truly humbling; especially knowing that she gives this same energy and time to all 5 of my siblings! AND she has been at it for nearly 30 years now. There's no one on this earth I cherish quite as much as I cherish my mother. 

I can't wait to be a mom some day and raise children of my own. The thought of it can be terrifying because of this crazy wicked world, but I'm honestly more excited then anything, and I think the reason my excitement trumps the fear is because of the perfect example I have in front of me. I hope to be even half the mother to my babies that my mom is to me. If I can even accomplish that much I know my kids will be SO blessed.

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A few days before I watched this video I read THIS post on nienie's blog where she shared this quote:

"A wonderful young mother recently wrote to me: “How is it that a human being can love a child so deeply that you willingly give up a major portion of your freedom for it? How can mortal love be so strong that you voluntarily subject yourself to responsibility, vulnerability, anxiety, and heartache and just keep coming back for more of the same? What kind of mortal love can make you feel, once you have a child, that your life is never, ever your own again? Maternal love has to be divine. There is no other explanation for it. What mothers do is an essential element of Christ’s work. Knowing that should be enough to tell us the impact of such love will range between unbearable and transcendent, over and over again, until with the safety and salvation of the very last child on earth, we can [then] say with Jesus, ‘[Father!] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.’11 ” - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

All the feels. I truly believe being a mother is apart of my divine nature and purpose. I can't wait for the day that I get to hold sweet babies of my own fresh from heaven. 

Who am I?

I'm in school right now majoring in Behavioral Science (with a emphasis in Family Studies). One of my required courses is FAMS-101G (Contemporary Families). Last week one of our assignments was titled "Who am I?". We had to write an article addressing different assigned topics, how that topic shaped who we are, and how that topic will influence your future family. The last topic in my essay was gender. How did gender effect my development?? As I wrote it I almost got emotionally thinking about my roles and what I feel is my divine nature and purpose as a woman. I decided to share what I wrote:

"Gender effected my development in a pretty typical way! I didn’t play football (or any sports involving a ball) growing up. I did gymnastics, dance, and cheerleading. I liked putting on fancy frilly dress ups with my sisters, brushing and braiding my barbies hair, and pretending to change my baby dolls diapers. All of the “games” I played and all of the activities I was involved in shaped me into the pink obsessed girly girl that I am today! I’ve grown into a young woman who loves to shop, do my make up, and curl my hair each morning. I have strong maternal instincts. I crave being a homemaker and mother. I like to sweep kitchen floors, make dinners, and clear all the dishes in the sink. These are such “motherly” duties in my head. I have these jobs and duties classified as “motherly” in my head because I watched my mom do all of them as I grew up! Contrary to the current and popular “trends” of the world, I do agree with these gender roles! I want my boys to grow up running around outside, playing in the dirt, and playing catch. I’m excited to drive them down to the ball field for practice and to fabreeze my car after them and their sweaty friends climb in for a ride home. I hope my daughters will want to help me bake and play in all of my old dance costumes. I love these typical and maybe “old fashioned” gender roles. I picture my husband working and being our bread winner and I picture me being the “House-Wife”. These gender roles never changed as I grew up. They remained very consistent in my own home! I plan to continue these roles under my own roof someday." 

I'm happy to be a girly girl, and I'm so glad my maternal instincts are so strong! I can't wait to be a mama some day.