The Lacher Family

To all the moms out there – Happy Mother’s Day!  As my wonderful husband wrote in his card to me, this is my first Mother’s Day with all three of my girls.  To be honest, I had mixed feelings about it all day.  Each time I would start to relax, suddenly Julia would start crying and I would get on edge.  I have been giving a lot of thought lately to the word Sacrifice (hence the letter S).  Obviously, God made the ultimate sacrifice of his Son so we could have eternal life and with Easter freshly behind us that is still forefront in my mind.  How I pray I may be more of a living sacrifice this year.

Today, I think about the sacrifices that my mother made for me.  The time she spent volunteering in my classrooms and book fairs over the years; the money for piano lessons, glasses and braces.  The weeks of vacation she and my dad use to drive 18 hours to visit us several times a year.  The THREE WEEKS of vacation she used to be here with Emily and Norah so we could travel to China to bring Julia home.  I know I don’t say it enough so I will say it publicly here – thanks Mom.  I Love You.

I think about the sacrifices that we have made recently in adding Julia to our family.  Frankly, our life was pretty smooth sailing pre-Julia.  The other girls are starting to be more self-sufficient.  They generally sleep all through the night.  Leaving them with a trusted babysitter is no problem.  Weekends were carefree, with the kids going with the flow of whatever we decided to do.  Now with Julia we are sacrificing sleep and alone time.  I am missing Emily’s soccer games.  Anything outside the normal routine has to be carefully considered.  And don’t even talk to me about transitioning her to daycare later this summer – I can’t think about it without getting anxious.

But then, I think about the sacrifices that Julia has made, and not by any choice of her own.  This brings me to the number 2.  Two months ago, Julia was placed in our arms.  And in that moment, she began a series of sacrifices.  Her favorite caregivers.  Her little friends.  Her familiar crib.  Her daily routine.  Her native language.  Her entire culture.  When I think of this, our sacrifices don’t seem so big anymore.

The last two months have not been easy.  At times, they have been downright hard.  And sometimes, it seems like we are going backwards.  But when I compare the first picture – taken the moment we met her on March 7 – with the second picture – taken May 7 – I can see that we have indeed made progress.  And oh, that does wonders for this Mommy’s heart.

Oh, in case you were wondering what the best gift was that I got for Mother’s Day?  At first it was all the food – pumpkin pancakes for breakfast, 3 large boxes of Hot Tamales as gifts (one from each of the girls), and steak with my favorite potatoes and onions on the grill for dinner, with strawberry shortcake for dessert.  But then, while we were loading the dishwasher, Julia said mama.  She has been saying this for weeks and what she really means when she says it is “yum yum”. But this time – and we had her do it multiple times to be sure – she was actually saying it to me.  Yep.  Best. Gift. Ever.  Hard-earned but so worth it.