My "Top 10" list of the great things about being Mom

Being Mom can be totally engulfing. As the mother of 4 children, life seems to move at such a rapid pace that, sometimes, I barely notice my family! I have been on that crazy treadmill all spring. So now, I'm going to blog on the great things about being Mom. It's time to focus my mind on my kids for a while.
Here are my “top ten” favorite things about being Mom - not necessarily in order since all are very important:
10. Development - Witnessing my children develop, watching them learn something new and internalize it, is magical. Sometimes I can actually look into their eyes and see the connections get made!
9. Ideas - Sometimes I am floored when I hear some of the amazing ideas/thoughts my kids have. They must come into this life with wisdom already!
8. Love - Being appreciated by my kids for who I am and what I can give them is sometimes breath taking. The simplest gestures can have the biggest impact. They love to do things for me too! The more I give of myself (time, attention, respect) the more they give to me.
7. Values - Seeing my kids learn important life lessons, lessons that will carry them through life, is very rewarding. For example, when my oldest son watched me give a needy man my last $5.00 he said, under his breath, "mom, are you sure you want to do that?" (worried about money). I told him that it always comes back. And 2 days later it did, when an unfamiliar woman put a $100.00 dollar bill on our restaurant table to buy our family dinner! My husband insisted that we didn’t need the money but she insisted. Home run!
6. Self-confidence - Watching the kids test and expand their abilities is awesome. Knowing when to step in and help and when to hold back and wait is the hard part.
5. Compassion - Feeling the love and caring that my kids have for others helps me to know that my husband and I are doing our jobs.
4. Physical comfort - Snuggles, hugs and kisses always feel good, even when the giver wiggles constantly, unable to sit still, or climbs into bed in the middle of the night. My heart fills every time.
3. Talent - When I take the time to really observe what my children can do I am amazed at their talent! My oldest son and my daughter are amazing musicians. And they are both naturals at caring for others (go figure). My third is a fantastic visual artist with an almost intuitive ability to work with colors. And my youngest has always been a master at physical coordination. It's hilarious to watch him dance and make faces!
2. Nurturing - because I am Mom, I get to nurture, to give, to feel love.
1. Fulfillment - Being mom really matters! Even on my worst days my kids can pull me back to what really matters - Love, Gratitude, Faith, Joy, Inspiration. They help me to be whom I need and want to be.

Depression

Depression has won another battle. I spent this afternoon at a funeral grieving for a mother and her children, friends of mine. They lost their husband/father a few days ago. He couldn't fight any more. His depression won. And this is not the first time that I have lost a friend in this way.

Having struggled through bouts of depression myself I know that simply existing can be exhausting. At my worst I simply felt numb, like nothing really mattered. Moving around the house, feeding my kids, answering the phone, I felt as if I was walking through waist deep water. Exhausting.... However, my depression has never felt so painful that I ever considered ending my life, and I hope that it never does.

How do people do it, I wonder. How does a person, living with such excruciating emotional pain, make it through every day? I know that problem solving, planning ahead, just thinking, go out the window when depression takes over. Is that why some people loose? Is that why they don't find the right medicine or the right therapy or the right whatever they need to feel better?

It's not right! It's not fair to their loved ones. My friend was a fantastic father. Now his boys don't have him anymore. Helpless, that's how I feel, helpless and angry. WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN? If I could figure out how to stop it I would do anything that I could to help.

More tears and lots of prayers. Please pray for them all.

We have a winner!!

Congradulations to Lynn at http://www.1000markets.com/users/silverwork You found the tiny little skull on the bottom of my amethyst rock! How it got there is a mystery to me.... Maybe you'll see it now that I've told you what to look for.

Thanks to everyone who played!

Sheryl


http://www.1000markets.com/pictures/0256/2189/Amethyst_Toggle_necklace_5.jpg

Game Time!!!

Thanks to Alyson2 and all of the amazing folks who contributed to the Photography Guide, I spent a lot of time taking pictures last weekend. Then something amazing happened!

I was editing my pics, preparing them for my shop, when I saw something unusual in one of my pictures! It's as if the image is actually part of the prop that I used (hint, hint), but it wasn't REALLY there!

If you can find the unusual spooky image that appeared in one of my pictures, you can choose a pair of my earrings as my gift to you. The first person to respond correctly wins!

When the opportunity presents itself, why not have a little fun, right? Happy searching!

http://treefrogjewelry.1000markets.com/

http://treefrogjewelry.etsy.com/

Fun with Copper

Copper is my current obsession, probably because it is beautiful to look at, easy to work with, and relatively inexpensive. Just recently I learned how to solder several flat pieces together. It's like making a peanut butter and bananna sandwich, except that the flame is the knife. What a cool feeling when the two pieces of metal "squish" together as the solder flows, very similar to smashing the bananna into the bread!
The thing about copper is that it likes to change from copper color to green. It's ony natural. I like bright copper, for jewerly at least. So I have searched and read about how to seal copper, to prevent it from doing the natural thing. So far all of the techniques that I have read about either chip off (like nail polish) or slightly change the appearance of the fihished copper.
If you have any suggestions I'd love to read about them!!