How many loads of laundry do you suppose you have folded? Dishes washed? Floors moped? Toilets cleaned? Meals made? Diapers changed? Boo boos kissed? Round trip car rides going nowhere?

How many hours have you spent at sporting events, dance lessons, music rehearsals, and mind numbing, ear piercing, Junior High band concerts?

How many hours of sleep have you sacrificed soothing colic, listening to teen heartbreak, visiting the ER?

How many hours have you listened to “Wheels on the Bus” or watched Sofia the First or Veggie Tales? How many movies have you sat through that involved illustrated animals acting like idiots or teenagers falling in “love”?

Have you ever eaten someone’s left over nuggets and fries that were three hours old because you only had $5 and you used it to get two happy meals?

Have you looked in the mirror and wondered who in the heck that old lady looking back at you is? Have you ever cried in a dressing room while trying on swimsuits, or watching your beautiful teenage daughter try them on?

Yeah, me too.

You weren’t counting and I wasn’t either

But my guess is that you dried those eyes and put on a smile and told her how lovely she looked. I would put money on the fact that you did not even think twice when you spent that last $5 on your child. I bet when you look back you do not miss that sleep but miss that little baby that found comfort in you alone.

We do it every time we work extra hours to buy that prom dress, spend hours making scrapbooks for graduation or give up getting our hair colored so our child can have dance lessons.

Trading our lives

I say “sacrifice” But really what we did is we traded our lives for theirs.

We traded our slim waists for tiny humans.

We traded a life that was all about us for a life that was about so much more than us.

We traded our youth for High School diplomas and weddings and grandbabies.

We traded Netflix Saturdays for soccer games and gymnastic meets, volleyball tournaments and birthday parties.

We traded five star restaurants for stars on spelling tests. And some how God takes each gift we give and he multiplies it.

God is forming us mothers

He is making us more than we ever thought we could be. He is giving us more strength than we ever thought we could posses. He is filling us with more wisdom than we could have imagined.

So dear young mama caring for a brood of life-sucking toddlers (I mean impressionable precious tiny humans) take heart, these selfless days are not only creating amazing little humans, they are creating an amazing you.

You will look back on these days and wonder how in the world you did it, and the answer will be that you were willing to give way more than you received.

And it was worth it.