Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! While we celebrate Mama here, we hope you are having a great time, staying healthy, making the most of each moment in Mexico. We have a bag of Mother’s Day goodies for your return home.
Today we all certainly missed you. We missed you when we woke up, missed you at Holy Mass, missed you during lunch, missed you all afternoon and evening when it rained, and missed you going to bed. Not having Mama present on Mother’s Day helped drive home a new lesson for the kids today: appreciation.
Car rides to Mass are becoming some of my favorite times for toddler discussion, especially as our four-year-old begins to grasp deeper concepts. Today’s rides consisted of praying for mom, and then a talk about what appreciation is. There are many things that the kids appreciate – especially when it comes to mom. Will they share those things when you are back? I am not sure – parenting is often a selfless act without much recognition.
But I want you to know I recognize all you do for us. Parenting these past five days has been enlightening and fun, but it has also been rather exhausting and… a great opportunity to grow in virtue myself. Parenting these kids over this next week alone will open my eyes even more, I know it. When your plane lands next weekend, I know we are going to appreciate every little thing you do. From the smallest detail in the timbre of your voice, to the comforting hugs only a mom can give. It will probably be exhausting for you just to be around us appreciating you so much! But I want you to know when that wears off, and you need help with anything, let me know what I can do. We are in this together.
Today we wrapped up the weekend, here is how it went. Today’s goals:
- Make sure we all eat at least three meals.
- Go to Mass.
- Pray for Mama.
- Have a clean kitchen before we go to bed.
- Continue potty training our puppy. No accidents in the house.
- Come up with an action plan for the next six days.
Today’s reality:
- All of us ate breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner. What a day!
- We made it to Mass and all of us even prayed (see photo below).
- Clean kitchen… yet to be determined.
- Lots of prayers today, spiritual warfare is real. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us. St. Benedict, pray for us. St. Padre Pio, pray for us. St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us. St. Simeon, pray for us St. Collette, pray for us. Our guardian angels, pray for us.
- Zero accidents today by Baby Bosco. I’ve also found that I can do some laundry and take him out the back without the kids knowing. Otherwise, it is a team activity to take out the dog when he rings the bells at the door.
- Action plan for the remainder of the week… I have thought it through and I have a to do list. I just need to put it on the calendar.
Goals. Roughly met.
Notes for Mama:
We’re doing well. All fed, hydrated, and still energetic.
I’ve not taken the TV down… but the power cord is hidden. I may or may not forget where it is after a week.
We were a few minutes late for Holy Mass – which means we had to wait in the back, which meant by the good part, we had to wait outside the doors. The kids were relatively well-behaved. Simeon did not ring any bells today that he was not supposed to, nor did they raise their voices too high at all. It was like they knew if they talked louder than a whisper, they would distract people from prayer. Nevertheless, they both gave me a run for my money – while at the same time they softened my heart at their innocents.
We appreciate you. We thank God you are in our lives. We are so lucky to have you. We miss you terribly.
We’ll hold the fort down while you are away. Happy Mother’s Day!
Forever Yours,
Ethan
Ethan Avina 