Roller Coaster Day

A few weeks ago I had a day that took me on an emotional roller coaster.  It was Stake Conference....a day I really look forward to.  I've never been in a stake where I felt so excited to hear what the Stake President and the rest of the speakers have to talk about.  A stake where I don't think of Stake Conference as a vacation from church kind of day.  President Shields is always so direct, and he never beats around the bush about what we need to be doing.  This year was no exception......but I digress (as usual).

I can always expect that on the day of Stake Conference, I will not see Taylor one iota.  He ends up being at the Stake Center from morning till night, since we have three different sessions.  I usually don't see him much anyways, but at least on this day I know he'll be able to sit with us and I'd have help with the kids.  I look forward to this probably as much as I look forward to hearing from the stake president.  Well, the morning started off fine, but then something kicked in with the kids because the fighting in the house got out of control.  Constant mean comments, constant crying, constant yelling of  "Jordan get out of my room", etc.  Basically a lot of tension.  I had to lecture a few times, send kids to their rooms a few times, make everyone kiss and make up a LOT of times.  I'd had it!  

Finally, it was time to head off to Stake Conference. When Taylor joined us in our row, he took one look at my face and knew something was wrong.  He asked if I was okay and my eyes just welled up.  Nope, I was officially done and wanted to just go home.  I'm happy I didn't because the first talk was from President Peterson on Motherhood.  I needed this.  I needed to be reminded of the good things about being a mother.  I needed the regular squeezes on my shoulders from Taylor letting me know he agreed with what was being said.  I needed him leaning over to kiss my head and tell me he loved me.  I was finally able to let it go and relax.

I ended up going VT'ing right after church.  While I was gone, Taylor had a talk with the kids to find out what had happened.  When I returned, I was greeted with this........

It even had a post-it note to decode the writing.

The kids had thought all of this up by themselves.  They all also wrote letters telling me that they were sorry for behaving badly that day.  It was a pretty great way to come home.  It was also a great way to end my day.  

I absolutely love being a mother!  I know that there will be days like this that kick me in the butt.  I know there will be days I want to just quit and go get a job somewhere else.  But that's just motherhood in a nutshell.  An emotional roller coaster.....but I will always be grateful for it.  I will always be grateful I am a mother and wouldn't change it for the world.