a picture of a mother from a to z

A description of a mother.

Amazing: She’s a giver of self, master of the schedule, who has the ability to get everyone dressed and find the missing shoe within fifteen minutes, and daily is in one of the most challenging jobs in the world for the littlest pay but with the most beautiful rewards that are often not seen until it is finished.

Brave: Motherhood is full of brave moments that are often dismissed as normal moments. A mother is brave in the simple moments of life – in all the times she believes that the next day will be better than the last or that their child will get better or that they will be able to make it to five pm and get dinner made or in those times that they let those no longer babies but now grown ones go just a bit – those are just a fraction of the brave mother moments.

Courageous: She can change a diaper with only one wipe. She can walk her kindergartner into class, give a kiss on the cheek, and not let the tears fall until she’s back in the car. She has the learned that art of getting up, brushing off the tired, and continuing on with her day even when there’s no coffee in the house.

Dreamer: Not only for extra hours of sleep or that the baby sleeps in or for them to not forget anything in their backpacks or that there isn’t any bickering between the kids in the day, but also for those children she’s blessed to mother.

Efficient: Also known as chief multi-tasker and chief get stuff done in a crunch individual.

Feeler: Happy, sad, worried, grateful, angry, hopeful, tired, joyful, silly, frustrated, weary, with are you kidding me? moments, proud times, disappointed, focused, and all more within a 24 hour period. Sometimes she just feels exhausted and in those times she feels everything a hundred times more.

Grace Giver: For herself, for her family, and for those children that call her mother. Grace is something that is learned throughout that journey of being a mother.

Hand holder: For those first classes, across the street, when they’re sick, when you believe in them, when you watch a movie together, in the store, before a piano recital, and when they say goodbye.

Instituter: Of rules, regulations, plans, structures, time outs, and bedtimes.

Joy Seeker: A skill that is learned and refined as the motherhood days go on. She learns to find joy in the little things – the everyday very beautiful moments that the world races by but the mother gets to cherish. It’s in the handprints on the windows and the marker marks left on the table – they’re the little things that make a house a home and a woman a mom.

Kisser: On cheeks of babes and sticky faces of toddlers and nervous first graders and for that owie that just needs to get better on that graduating senior who feels like they were just the toddler.

Learner: Always learning. Everything in motherhood that is new for every mother. No one knows what to expect until they’re in the midst of it. And to make things interesting – no two kids are alike and what one likes the other hates and correction strategies for one make the other rebel. It’s a constant breath of learning, trying again, learning, and trying again.

Manager: Of time, laundry, kids, cars, mail, bills, groceries, schedules, phone numbers, orthodontic treatment options, allowances, of things fair, and all those little everyday things.

Nurturer: From pushing swings to tying shoes to spreading peanut butter on bread to whispering the words I believe in you to tucking them in at night – mothers are nurturers in the most simple things that they do. They carry their children’s dreams with them and with that their heart.

Optimistic: Most of the time. This is the beautiful trait of mothers. Even when they aren’t feeling optimistic about themselves, they’re often very optimistic about those under their care.

Patient: Even though we never pray for patience mothers are some of the most patient people out there. It takes patience to give options all day long and to reason to little ones and to clean their room day after day after day even though the promise was that the next time it would stay clean. It takes patience to when the time ticks by slowly or when the three year old decides to have one of those challenging preschool days.

Quieter: Of bad dreams and fears and anxieties – some of which are in her own heart.

Real: A real mother has the good days, bad days, medium days, crazy days, fabulous days, terrible days, normal days, fast paced days, and days where she just feels grateful. Real is beautiful. Even if sometimes it is a bit messy.

Saint: Just because. I mean, really, mothers really are saints. If one can stand up to years of diaper changers, throwing up catching, late night rocking, dirty plate scraping, slammed doors dealing, absolutely fair and equal ice cream dishing, constant driving, nose wiping, and stepping on legos then one can move to saint category.

Thinker: The mother is a thinker. What’s for dinner, where are the ballet shoes, when will they get home, what’s the best way to potty train, where should we go tomorrow, where in the world is the coffee, how can I be at four places at once. The mom – she’s a thinker.

Understander: Moms get to listen to it all – from the needs for the new things to the worries about not doing well to the hopes and dreams.  Moms get their kids, they understand their kids – most of the time – and when they don’t they’ve mastered the art of nodding and smiling and listening and hoping and loving those kids.

Very Tired: Always. Not just physically, but mentally. The mother has little ones they’re raising in a very fast, competitive, and often not measure up feeling world. All of that, and the lack of sleep, can leave a mother tired. But even in the tired, there’s gratitude for little things that help – like Rock Paper Scissors for who gets to start or calendars with dates all filled in or dishwashers that are constantly running.

Wonder Woman: Yes. This. Always this. Read –> Mothers are heroes.

Xtraordinary: Unbelievable, brave, courageous, get up at the crack of dawn, can make the day better, can find the items forever deemed as lost that no one else can find when put to the challenge, laundry master, dishes cleaner, floor mopping, toilet scrubber, hair comber, answers to a million cries of mom, learns to say yes more, sharer of the last sip of her coffee, deal finder, who goes to bed exhausted only to start it again the next day – mothers are extraordinary.

Youthful: At least always by heart. Children keep us mothers young each Candyland game after a time (even though we joke that they’re making us get older) despite the graying of hair and adding of wrinkles. Which, by the way, should only be called laugh lines.

Zipper Unstuckers: This automatically goes on the list. Have a child with a coat with a stuck zipper? Add a mother and that zipper will come undone. Zippers are no match for any zealous mother.

Onward brave mothers onward!

What words would you use to describe moms?

Read these to read more about how the amazing strength of moms.
20 Motherhood Tips
20 {More} Motherhood Tips
Ten Things Moms Need to Remember

For those of you looking to link with Friday Favorite Things – it will return – it’s undergoing a bit of a change to make it better and with a deeper focus. Thanks for your patience!
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