A little Godsend this Mother's Day

For the past couple of years Mother's Day has been a time of strong emotion for me. It is a hard fact to sit and see all the mom's wearing their homemade jewelry or flowers from their children or to have the pastor announce that all moms get a flower on their way out of church. I yearn for the Mother's Day I can sit in church with a homemade necklace from a child of mine. 

This year I think that God knew it would be hard for me too, so I believe He sent me a present. I didn't realize it was a present at first, but after telling my mom the story she said that it had to of been a Godsend. Today while my students, or kids as I like to call them, were working on a project I reminded them that it was Mother's Day weekend. I told them not to forget about their moms and to give them a hug and a kiss. A couple minutes later one of my female students came up to me and gave me a giant hug and said, "Happy Mother's Day Mrs. Loerop!" I was taken aback because my students know that I don't have children. I said, "I don't have kids." She then replied, "Yes you do. You have 23 kids!" It took all I had in me not to cry when she said that. 

I guess God wanted me to know that I already am a mom. I am a mom to 110 8th graders. 23 of which are in my homeroom whom I greet in the morning and say "Behave yourselves" on their way out the door every day. They are my kids whom I love and love to be with. My kids bring me joy and I am blessed to have them in my life for the short while that they are in 8th grade.

I am learning that Mother's Day is for all women. You don't have to birth a child to be a mother. Mothers come in different forms. I just happen to be a "mom" for 7 hours of my day to 110 teenagers.