The idea for this page came to me during my visit to my mother on Mother's Day. She is in a nursing home now and needs for me to visit with her and just spend time together. Mother's Day now is only a card and time together. There is not enough room in her room for the things we like giving our mothers to show we remember them and we love them.

This past Mother's Day I wondered why we don't celebrate our mothers every day. On the day my mother dies, I would like to know I did everything I could for her everyday. I would like for her to know I loved her every minute of everyday.

Some of the information and websites below have somthing to do with Mother's Day. I was surprised that there were not more websites devoted to making mothers feel special. I urge you to take the information you gain and use it everyday to make your mother feel loved. There is no way to repay a mother, because she was the one who carried us for 9 months. After she gave birth to us, she took care of us until we were on our own. No matter what our age our mother will always be our mother.

I decided to include what the bible has to say about mothers. There are also some websites that teach what the bible says about mothers.

For those of you mothers who read this page, I salute you for being the center of the family and always taking care of those you love.

You Are a Good Enough Mom, Right Now!
copyright 2003 Kelly Jo Murphy
Certified Parent Coach, Artist, Silly Little Girl!
www.parentingforpotential.com

Are you the kind of mom who likes to get out and be on the go? Or are you the kind of mom who likes quiet time at home?

Are you the kind of mom who encourages creativity in your children? Or are you the kind of mom who shows your children the practical, hands-on stuff of the world?

Are you the kind of mom who fosters your children's intellectual pursuits? Or the kind of mom who is likely to initiate a heart-to-heart talk?

Are you the kind of mom who goes with the flow in the moment? Or the kind of mom who likes to have some structure to your day?

You could have many of these attributes or some or any combination. And each one is just right!

Your children are lucky to have you as a mom, because no one else could do it the same way as you.

You are special being you! You are good enough being yourself. Until you get that, all of your parenting will be hard and will suffer.

If you believe that you are not good enough, your children will pick up on that thought and believe they are not good enough either. Is that what you want? I didn't think so. So, you have to believe in yourself right now.

I am a good enough mom.
I am a great mom, being myself.
I am the perfect mom for my children right now.

So, you don't believe it yet? Well, that's because you may not be expressing that perfection that you are, as of yet. But the first step is in realizing and believing that deep inside, the real, authentic you IS good enough, perfect enough, enough, enough, enough, just the way you are. You don't have to go changing a thing.

Write those affirmations above out, three times. And then read them outloud, three times, even if you don't believe them yet. Because, the more you say them, the closer you will get to believing them. And then, when you are being yourself in your mothering, it WILL be perfect, perfectly YOU!

And your children will see that you are good enough and perfect being yourself. Which, in turn, helps them to believe that they are good enough being themselves.

If you want your mothering to be fun, easy and fulfilling, BE YOURSELF! Without conditions, without judgments, just BE YOURSELF! And then it won't matter what the Jones' or the Smiths' are doing or saying, because you are being yourself and that is the greatest thing in the world!

What others do and say is their responsibility and what you do and say is yours.

There are many parenting experts out there that feed on your fears of not being enough. Time has come to claim your own power back. To stop listening to the experts and listen to YOURSELF. You have your own perfect and good enough answers within. And it is time to discover them.

The idea of the perfect mom is gone. It is time to replace it with the idea of the perfect you. The best you can do is your best, until you decide to do better. And then it is your choice, not the choice of a "should" or a "mother-in-law" or "your neighbor" or even your "spouse".

Comparing will get you no where! How could you even compare an apple and an orange? Each one is fundamentally different. Yes, they are both fruit and yes, you and your neighbor are both moms, but each one is unique and special in their own way. YOU are unique and special in your own way!

I am unique and special being me!
I am good enough! I am great!
I love myself for being myself!
I deserve fun, easy and fulfilling parenting!
My children deserve a fun, easy and fullfilled mom!

Now it is time to awaken and discover that special and unique mom you are! Are you ready? Are you ready to have fun, ease and fulfillment in your mothering?

Ok, let's go!

Enjoy!

Kelly Jo Murphy is a Certified Parent Coach, Artist, Wife, Mom and an all around silly little girl. She helps parents add more fun, ease and fulfillment to their parenting and their own lives. To sign up for her FREE ezine, send an email to Parenting_for_Potential-subscribe@ yahoogroups.com
Website: http://www. parentingforpotential.com

About Mother's Day

Have you ever wondered how Mother's Day got started? People started honoring mother's a very long time ago. When it first started it was called Mothering Sunday because people celebrated it the fourth Sunday during a time called Lent. Lent is the time before Easter where people think and prepare about the Easter story and what God did for us.

Then 150 years ago a woman named Anna Jarvis, organized a day to raise awareness of poor health conditions in her community, something she thought mother's believed in doing. She called it "Mother's Work Day."

After Anna Jarvis died, her daughter (also named Anna) wanted to honor all that her mother did. Anna heard her mother say that one day she hoped someone would make a special day just for mothers.

So Anna worked very hard and even talked to presidents and other leaders to try to create a special day just to honor them. By 1914 (almost 100 years ago) a man named Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother's Day as a national holiday.

It just so happens that Anna's mothers' favorite flower was the white carnation and that's why mother's often receive carnations on Mother's Day.

The funny thing is, Anna ended up disliking Mother's day. She didn't want Mother's day to be all about the expensive gifts and fancy flowers but just a day to tell your mom that you love and appreciate her. So remember, moms don't need all that fancy stuff. Make her a nice card and treat her very special today (and everyday) and she won't need anything else.

Mother's are very special, so special that they are mentioned in the Bible. Since the Bible is like an instruction manual for us, it gives us instructions on how to treat our mother.

Do any of you know what the ten commandments are? They were rules that God gave to Moses for all of us to follow. Each commandment is very important and God gave each commandment for a reason. One of the commandments says: Honor your father and you mother, so that all may go well for you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.

What does honor mean anyway? Honor can mean many things. When we listen, obey, love, appreciate, and forgive our mom that is how we honor her. That means when she asks you to do something you should do it right away without complaining.

When you show you love your mom by hugging her and telling her that you love her that's another way to honor. You can also appreciate your mom by thanking her when she does things for you (cleaning the house and your clothes, making supper, helping you, etc.).

Our mom won't be perfect all the time, we all make mistakes. So we should forgive our moms when they make mistakes because God asks us too.

Another verse in the Bible asks us to bless our mom. It says, "Her children arise and call her blessed." Some words that describe blessed are that your mom belongs to God and we need to treat her like she's God's child. Your mom used to be a child too and she's just trying her best to help you grow and learn things. So, treat her nicely!

Another way to describe blessed is to be happy. Do you make your mom happy? I'm sure you do a lot of the time and moms can be sad because of different things sometimes too, but I don't think your mom would be happy if you didn't listen to her or disobeyed her.

The last verse we're going to talk about today says: Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. I know that sometimes you don't always want to obey your parents but its important that you obey them because it makes God happy!

One last thing. No matter how old you get your mom is your mom. Sometimes you might think that you can talk back to our parents or that you know more than them, but you don't. The Bible says to obey your parents always, not just when your a kid. Your parents want the best for you and know what they're talking about.

Don't forget that we also have a heavenly father that cares and loves us no matter what. So if you don't have a mother around all the time (or even if you do) God is always there. He is there when our mother can't be.

The above was taken from: http://www.dltk-bible. com/cv/mothers_day.htm

A WONDERFUL MOTHER

GOD made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks, fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.

~Pat O'Reilly~


MOTHER'S ARE THE SWEETEST

Our mother is the sweetest and
Most delicate of all.
She knows more of paradise
Than angels can recall.

She's not only beautiful
But passionately young,
Playful as a kid, yet wise
As one who has lived long.

Her love is like the rush of life,
A bubbling, laughing spring
That runs through all like l iquid light
And makes the mountains sing.

And makes the meadows turn to flower
And trees to choicest fruit.
She is at once the field and bower
In which our hearts take root.

She is at once the sea and shore,
Our freedom and our past.
With her we launch our daring ships
Yet keep the things that last.

~Nick Gordon~

Motherhood
by Patricia Terry Holland

In an address on the blessings and responsibilities of motherhood, President Ezra Taft Benson stated: "No more sacred word exists in secular or holy writ than that of mother" (Benson, p. 1). Latter-day Saints revere and respect motherhood, in part because of the mother's role in shaping the family unit and the individuals within it. President David O. McKay taught:

Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother's image is the first that stamps itself on the unwritten page of the young child's mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world…. This ability and willingness properly to rear children…make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world…. She who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters…deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God [McKay, pp. 452-54].

Obviously, the sociological significance of the mother's role is immense: Her relationship with her children and her guidance in their growing years influence the formation of values and attitudes they will carry throughout their lives.

The significance of motherhood continues undiminished following the birth of a child. The long-term stability, security, and peace of a human soul are built in large measure upon the foundation of love, and any individual's ability to give and receive love is rooted strongly in that person's earliest relationships. For most people, that earliest influence is the mother.

She who gives the child life is first and foremost the one to give it a way of life, teaching the child what it should or should not do. She encourages strong character formation as she teaches the child to impose limitations on some of its natural instincts. By her words and actions she teaches her child the regard that should be shown other individuals if that child wishes to be included and loved as a member of the family circle, later as a member of society, and finally as a participating member of the kingdom of God.

The ultimate responsibility of a mother, then, is to lead her child lovingly through its personal development and toward its divine destiny. Latter-day Saints believe that if a mother is prayerful and totally committed to such a weighty responsibility, she will receive divine intuitions and spiritual whisperings to aid her in her mothering. Living as a conduit for divine instruction to her child, a mother can greatly enhance its opportunity for joy and exaltation. The child who has been mothered in this profound way usually develops a moral conscience , a respect for society, a desire to contribute to the well-being of humankind, and, most important, a love of God and a love for self that will bring everlasting joy and inner peace.

Perhaps the most distinctive Latter-day Saint doctrine regarding motherhood emphasizes the role of a mother after death. The eternal nature of the family unit, when that unit is bound together by priesthood ordinances and temple covenants, guarantees to a faithful LDS mother the privileges, opportunities, and joys of motherhood with her children in a relationship that lasts eternally.

The excerpt above was taken from: http:// www.lightplanet.com/family/ mothers/motherhood.html

The Beautiful Role of a Mother

With Sunday being Mother’s Day, consider the vital importance of this pillar of a stable society.

Oh, how we need our moms! This is a truth most of us know intuitively, but which nevertheless has been borne out by several recent studies. Though some would downplay the importance of authoritative parental influence on children, their efforts are undermined by facts.

Consistently, studies have shown that the emotional development of the child—the capacity to love and to form attachments to other human beings—is greatest from conception to age 3. A secure attachment to a parent—which is severely inhibited by day care according to a 1999 National Institute of Child and Human Development study—is “related to the child’s development of self-confidence and social competence” (www.pitc.org). Stronger parental attachments lay a sturdy emotional foundation upon which that child can more adequately develop good social skills.

Sadly, more and more children are growing up without that influence. According to one study, between 1965 and the late 1980s, the amount of time children spent interacting with parents dropped 43 percent. A 1992 study conducted at Stanford University, comparing statistics from 1960 and 1986, found that parents were spending 10 to 12 hours less time with children each week.

A big part of the reason for these changes is the exodus of women out of the home and into the workforce. In 1950, 26 percent of married women between the ages of 25 and 44 were employed outside the home. As of the early 2000s, that figure is about 72 percent; among women with babies under age 1, 58 percent work. Also, while men and single women work about the same number of hours as they did 50 years ago, among married women, weekly hours of work outside the home have tripled.

And consider: Among working mothers who believe they “have to” work, more than half admit they would continue working even if they didn’t need the money (Andrew Hacker, The Case Against Kids). That’s right: Half the working mothers in America freely admit they would rather be at work all day than at home with children.

Anyone who believes that mothers are unimportant in the lives of their children should consider the problems that have resulted from moms leaving home on such a mass scale.

Children left home alone are far likelier to abuse alcohol, tobacco or marijuana, and far more likely to engage in sexual activity. Lack of parental involvement even has a proven negative effect on a child’s studies. In a book by Harvard School of Public Health researcher Jody Heymann, an examination of more than 1,600 children revealed that “parental absence between 6 and 9 p.m. was particularly harmful. For every hour a parent worked during that interval, a child was 16 percent more likely to score in the bottom quarter of a standardized math test. The results held true even after taking into account family income, parental education, marital status, the child’s gender and the total number of hours the parents worked” (The Widening Gap).

These studies prove that, on the whole, just as surely as plants need water and sunlight, children wither without motherly influence and flourish with it. This is a truth long ago expounded on in a source that too few recognize today as being authoritative: the Bible.

Let’s get God’s perspective on this all-important subject.

In Genesis 2:18, after creating the man, God said, “It is no t good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” God didn’t want the man to be alone—it wasn’t good. He knew the man would need help. But why did the man need help? How did God intend for the woman to help man the most?

The Hebrew word for meet in verse 18 means opposite. In the same way men and women are altogether different physically, their roles within the family are profoundly different. Though they are absolutely equal in importance, God meant for both roles to perfectly complement each other, not to compete with one another. Each role enables the other to accomplish much more than either could alone.

How can a wife best support and assist her husband? The Apostle Paul answers that in Titus 2. He admonished the older women in the Church to teach the younger women “good things” (verse 3). In verse 4, he explains—teach the younger ones to love their husbands and to love their children! Verse 5 continues the thought: “To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.” Love your husband, love your children and keep the home, or as it says in 1 Timothy 5:14, “guide the house.”

Feminists cringe at the thought. Instead of teaching young girls about it, they ridicule and mock the way God organized the family. They view any attempt to persuade working moms to return home as an attack on women’s rights. They would rather compete with men to prove they are every bit as capable of holding a successful career.

And while they have proven that, it has come at considerable cost. Our children have suffered immeasurably.

Proverbs 29:15 says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” Generally speaking, of course, a child left to himself brings shame on both parents. But maybe God gets specific in this proverb for a reason.

After all, one of a man’s God-given responsibilities requires that he work—usually outside the home. Paul said that if a man won’t provide for his family, he is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8). And if a mother is to be the “keeper at home” while the husband is away at work, she obviously will spend more time with the children. It doesn’t mean the father is without responsibility at home. Not at all! But when he is at work during the day, mom is in charge. And because of the time spent with the children, she is more directly involved in their training and development—especially when they are young. Perhaps this is why God singles out the mother in the proverb.

If a father abdicates his responsibilities as loving head and provider, if he abandons his wife and family, forcing mom to go it alone and to step outside her role as a woman, it brings on him the greatest possible shame.

In like manner, when a mother chooses to abandon her children—leaving them alone—it brings great shame on her.

God never meant for us to be alone, whether father, mother or child. He organized the family so that no one would be left alone, so long as everyone willingly accepted their roles. In the case of mothers, the best way by far they can help their children is to stay at home with them, providing constant care and loving supervision.

The mother’s role is not about stifling yourself, your talents, your uniqueness. It’s about growing, working, developing yourself—and marshaling all those abilities in building the family, channeling all that energy into serving your husband and your family.

When this role is fulfilled, everyone benefits—husband, wife and children.

According to biblical commands, mothers should be highly honored for the tremendous role they play in our families. The Fifth Commandment includes God’s command to honor your mother (Exodus 20:12). In 1 Peter 3:7, the Apostle Peter tells husbands to give honor to the wife. This should also be happening within our families today.

Remember—and not only this Mother’s Day—to put Mom on a pedestal. Her God-given role is most praiseworthy and exalted, most beautiful. Most honorable.

The above was taken from: http://www.thetrumpet. com/index.php?page=article&id=3161

A Special Tribute to all Moms!
by Rev. Fr. Alexander J. Kurien, Washington, D.C.

Do not forget your Moms.

A Mother is one of the surviving words from Anglo-Saxon (starting as modor), which are among the most fundamental words in English.

Mother has many cognates in o ther languages, including Old High German muoter, Dutch moeder, Old Norse mothir, Latin mater, Greek meter, and Sanskrit mat. These words share an Indo-European root.

Mother is one of the Anglo-Saxon nouns that has an Anglo-Saxon adjective as well as a Latinate adjective ”motherly and maternal” and motherly also came from Old English (modorlic).

Mom, a shortened form of momma, was recorded in 1894; momma was first used in 1884. Both are chiefly North American uses.

Mamma and mama, created by children reduplicating an instinctive sound, are much earlier terms showing up in the 1500s. In between came mommy (also North American in usage) in 1848, which was a variant of mammy (also 1500s).

A Special Tribute To All Moms

Moms are special people!

Moms get up in the middle of the night to scare off monsters. Moms get up in the middle of the night to tend to a sick child. Moms may want something for themselves, but they always put their children's needs first.

Moms give unconditional love even when their children mess up. Moms take their children here, there, and everywhere even when they would rather take a long bubble bath.

Moms have amazing patience even when their four-year-old whines all day.

Moms get excited over a special gift of a dandelion.

Moms take care of everyone when they are sick, even if the Mom is sick herself.

Moms have a way of making a child feel better even if the whole world seems to be against them.

Happy Mother's Day! We hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day because you deserve it.

The above was taken from: http://www. 1stholistic.com/reading/ prose/A2006/liv_a-special -tribute-to-all-moms.htm