The Mother of All Mothers...

As anyone who reads my Blogs knows, I am a mother of eight children, two more in Heaven. I have been pregnant nine times...two misses, a set of twins, the rest singles. This has been for nearly 30 years; our oldest is 29, a father himself; the youngest is 19.
I realize that what I have done is not that unusual...even tho' while my children were growing up I was frequently the object of curiosity, the butt of jokes ~ the freak of nature who would not give up and refused to listen to anyone who had a comment to make about my God-given fertility.
My husband Mike was never one to circumvent the will of the Almighty, either. Whatever God wanted, God got. Two children, twenty children ~ it mattered not. As long as we were married in the Church, no one could ever say anything.
Yesterday being Mother's Day, we were all gathered together, of course, and I received gifts, cards, flowers and chocolates. I have always enjoyed a closeness to each of my children, the boys and the girls...we have an understanding, you might say. I have loved them, each one, from the very moment that I first suspected that they existed. From the day they were born til now...they are my life, my loves, my very heart!
And the day I die and (hopefully) go to Heaven, I will meet the two I lost, and beg the Lord to watch over the ones who lived, until the day they each come to Him.
This is the purpose of being a mother ~ to nurture, to love and to pray for the little ones until they are home with God.
And what kind of mother would I be if I didn't take that seriously?!?
Just like the Mother of all of us, She who prays incessantly for Her children, interceding for them, reminding them to follow the Light of the World, Her divine Son Jesus...She shows us all the way to the Father.
When it all started, on that day of the Annunciation, She was His faithful dove. She was His obedient Daughter, His humble Servant and She became His faithful Spouse...and His loving Mother. From the first moment She felt His life within Her, She became His protector, as well.
Nothing in life could harm Her Child...the God of creation became dependent upon the meekest of all His creatures.
And just like my own children are my life, my loves, my very heart ~ He was Hers.
When He hung upon the Cross, and when He gave Her to us as our Mother, and us to Her as Her children ~ we became Her charges, as well.
She nurtures us with Her love; She keeps watch over our souls. She pleads for us at the Throne of the Father...She has become our protector, just like She was His so long ago.
Countless numbers of the Saints have followed Her to Heaven ~ those who claimed devotion to the Mother of God are innumerable. There are those who claimed that to say just one more "Hail Mary" would be the perfect thing...
Like I was saying earlier, all of my children were here with me yesterday ~ the two who no longer live here came by & I was able to have a nice long visit with my new grandson. So the day was wonderful in every way I thought it would be.
To end it all, I finished with a nice long visit with my own Heavenly Mother ~ saying the Rosary. All those "Hail Marys" I say with the Rosary, I can only hope and pray that they will keep me as close to my Heavenly Mother as my own are to me...and I will keep on saying them every day ~ Mother's Day or not ~ until the day I die, just as all those Saints before me, who always said that to say just one more "Hail Mary" would be the perfect thing.