Happy Mother's Day to me...

Isn't that pretty?!?! Unfortunately, I won't be getting mine for another week, and mine will have Mikah, Jett and Presley's name on the round discs, and Mike's name on the rectangle one, as well as a heart charm, rather than the starfish. YEEEEE! (that is me shouting with glee)... Isn't is just the coolest!?! (Of course, you guys will have to hear (or read) that shout of glee again when I post a pic of MINE, when it actually arrives!!) AND, I got a snazzy backpack, like I requested, to make outings with the kids easier, (digging through a honkin' big purse or diaper bag, is just for the birds. I need my hands free so I can chase these little varmints of mine!!)
My day was great and I am such a lucky, lucky gal!!
I hope all you ladies had a great Mother's Day! I know, often times, I feel like all my hard work is for not. Recently, I was even able to hire some help to make this busy life of mine, 'not so busy', but the thing is, I still don't feel like I ever get to sit down, ever get to blog, call friends, get my nails done... Seriously, my hair color comes from a box and I pluck my eyebrows at red lights (I am not kidding about that). I have told Mike, more than once, how I feel like I take care of everyone, yet I have no one to take care of me.
Whah! Whah! Cry me a river, right?
My point in going on and on about this, is in the hopes, that if any of you Mommies have ever felt, even in the slightest, like I do at times, then I urge you to keep reading!
You guys know I totally respect and understand, how busy we all are, so I am of the blogging philosophy that 'less is more', but please stick this one out for me and read the following. It will move you, and help you to understand and remember, in the times in which we forget and complain, why we do what we do, sacrifice what we sacrifice. You won't regret taking the time to read it!
The excerpt is out of the book, 'The invisible Woman", and my friend, Heather, shared it with me last fall and it moved me to tears. She posted it on her blog on Mother's Day and I wanted to share it with you.
As a woman recounts her readings of a book on the great cathedrals of Europe she says...

" No one can say who built the great cathedrals– we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building
was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, “Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.” And the workman replied, “Because God sees.”
I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, “I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you’ve done, no sequin you’ve sewn on, no cupcake you’ve baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can’t see right now what it will become.”
At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don’t want my son to tell the friend he’s bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, “My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand-bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.” That would mean I’d built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, “You’re gonna love it there.”
As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women."