Motherhood

 

My testimony wouldn't be complete if I didn't share about one of my greatest accomplishments. Rather than an accomplishment, I'd like to think of my four children as my blessings in my life. There was a time in eighth grade where I wanted to be a mother of 11 children, just like my Abuelita. I remember at my eighth grade matriculation, they asked me what I wanted to accomplish when I got older and I told them having 11 children -- so my teacher shared what my goal was and I remember the whole congregation laughed so hard. I didn't understand why until I got a bit older. My Mom had 10 brothers and sisters growing up. She actually had 13, but unfortunately two did not make it past childhood. I loved that she had such a huge family. I actually thought that was normal to have that many kids, because that was all I knew for the better part of my life. There was a time when I was quite content with that I had already had my boy and my girl. They are about 7 years apart in age. My son is the older of the two. However, when I remarried in 1998, my then husband wanted to have one more. I informed him that I was really quite content with the two I already had, but then I conceded and agreed to have one more. Well, God has quite the sense of humor and blessed me with twin boys. I remember at the time, I consulted with God and asked him why he blessed me with two. I was nervous about becoming a Mom again and asked God how he could trust me to raise two more babies.

My oldest son was born to me in 1983. I was 23 years old when I first became a Mom. I remember the excitement of when I found out. Because he would be the first grandson on both sides, everyone was elated to hear I would soon be the one to bring the first grandchild into the world. I had some morning sickness, but it wasn't too bad. So unfortunately, I developed a ferocious appetite. I didn't know at the time that my thyroid was giving me symptoms that something was not right with the world. I kept wanting to consume sweet and then salty. It was a vicious cycle of eating. I went from 110lbs. to 150lbs. I remember one of my coworkers where I worked told me, "Honey, you are spreading like peanut butter." After having my son, I never was less than 125lbs. again. I had a difficult labor and ended up needing a caesarean after 21 hours of labor. Oh my goodness, once he was born, my heart fell in love. The first time I held him I was in such pain in recovery that I really didn't get to see him that well, but I saw he was perfect. When I finally got conscious enough to hold and meet him, I held him in my arms and we just looked at each other. He stretched his little body straight up and pulled his head up -- it was like the scene when ET came out from behind the stuffed animals in the movie Close Encounters. I told my husband that I don't think it was normal for a baby to be so alert and holding his head by himself like he was. He would further continue to amaze us when he quit using a bottle at around 6 months (he preferred a sippy cup) and was potty trained soon after a year old (he didn't like diapers at all). Then at the age of two years old, I was reading his usual bed time story -- The Big Ripe Red Strawberry -- and then he started reading it along with me. I thought he had just memorized the words that went with the picture as we had read it so many times. His Dad told me that he was reading the book. I told him no that he had just heard it so many times he memorized it. So I tested his intelligence and pulled words out of context and asked him what each word said -- he read each word with 100% accurately. I was blown away and because I had never had any other child to compare his progress to, I thought it was normal. As part of his elementary education, they wanted to test his intellect and the district had never had a child who scored as high as he did with that test. From that point on, he got an accelerated education. I was never interested in pushing him forward when it came to his academia, because I wanted him to enjoy his childhood. But excel he did. All through elementary through high school, my son was a high honor student. He paid for most of his education with his high scores all the way through his Doctorate. He is an executive in a corporation that utilizes his physics and chemistry degrees. Bless his heart, he would buy me copies of his Master's and Doctorate thesis and give me a copy. I would look at it and tell him, I'm sure what it contains is amazing, however, I couldn't even begin to decipher what he had studied and written in those large documents. They are in my library. My son is one of the most optimistic and handsome men I know. He was schooled in a catholic school system throughout his education. Also, I took him to a protestant church with me up until he made his own decision about religion and relationship with God. Because his Dad and I agreed that even though we divorced when he was just 5 1/2 years old, we would remain amicable and make our decisions together when it came to raising our son. His Dad is an amazing father and even up to this day, they are very close. My son is married; he is one of the most beautiful son in loves a Mom could ask for their son. 

My second born is my beautiful daughter. She was born in 1990. Her circumstances were a bit different when being brought into the world. I actually conceived her out of wedlock, but would later end up marrying her father, not once but twice -- and divorcing him as many times. She was conceived by her father poking holes in the birth control I was utilizing -- I found this out after I conceived her. Her Dad's family adored me, but understood that if I didn't want to have the baby, they wouldn't blame me. I told them, I would be having this baby with or without him. For myself, I have always been pro-life, however, I don't pass judgment on prochoice as I don't know the circumstances of their decisions and that is between themselves and God. You will recall that in my childhood I was sexually abused and if the that had resulted in a pregnancy, I don't know what my mental health being would be at that time and I'm glad I never had to make that choice or find out. Sometimes, I can understand why decision are made contrary. However, I knew the risks of committing fornication and unfortunately it didn't go according to plan. I was never, ever sorry I made a choice to have my most beautiful daughter in the world. Oh the joy this little one brought me. Unfortunately, because of my trauma as a child, I raised my daughter to be a very strong and assertive little girl. And that she was. She read at 4 years old -- which is still early, but as she was growing up, originally I thought she was slow, because remember I had my son who read at two. I was told at the time, that my son reading at two was not the ordinary age for reading. My daughter always read ahead of her grade level. She was also tested and was provided an accelerated education. At the young age of seven, I divorced her father as well.  Unfortunately for her, her Dad and I were mostly separated during the time we were married both times. She pretty much grew up with me as a single Mom for most of that time. For her formal education, she chose a different route by going to community college at first and then taking a hiatus for a while, while she ventured out to live her own life. I always tell her, she was a lot like me. I also told her she could make her own choices in life when she got old enough. My daughter grew up going to church and learning about God and Jesus. She actually attended church with me through high school. We had some rough times in the learning curve of life and she had a beautiful little girl as the result. My beautiful most wonderful granddaughter was born. Soon after my daughter married. Her husband is a wonderful Daddy and husband. He is another one of my most wonderful son in loves who refers to me as Suegra. Then she gave me another most beautiful little grandson. My daughter always worked and excelled in everything she did. Because she is such a strong and determined woman, she wanted better for her kids, so she went back to college and earned her Associates and then her Bachelors degrees and today is a Respiratory Therapist. My daughter saves lives for a living. She actually achieved her goal during the height of Covid and was right in the beginning of it when a lot of people were dying as a result of this horrible pandemic that affected our world. I am so proud of the wonderful mother she has become and also of all her accomplishments. I love her little family immensely.

Then in 1998 I remarried and planned and conceived my beautiful twin boys. One is 2 minutes older than the other. All my children after the oldest son were born by caesarean. So I say I had three pregnancies and I have four children as the result. These two boys have brought me endless comedy. Because there are two of them, they always fed off each other in all things. The youngest is the protector of the older one. Even in adulthood, the youngest one does so much for the older one. I remember as infants, they had a special twin talk. The youngest was the first to walk and climb. The older one would point to an object he wanted and speak their language and the youngest would get it for him. Both boys were accelerated in their educations as well. They were honor students. Except for one time, one of the twins let some grades drop for a brief period and didn't sit on the stage with the other one. The one twin who had received honors while passing him on his way up to the stage, he asked him how it felt to not be an honor student. This was their dynamic. As they grew up, they would always watch out for each other when it came to receiving equal tangible items. An example of this was when the oldest son had to have hand surgery, so after the surgery I took him to a store and bought him a wonderful gift to congratulate his amazing behavior through such a traumatic surgery. Well as we were walking away from the toys, he said -- "What about my brother?" -- and that's how the rest of life went with these two. They both look out for one another. It's a great dynamic and now I know why God gave me two. The youngest one is a pleaser and motivator. As a former HR Manager, I see leadership potential in him. He's always been the very vocal one of the two. My older twin son, is very reserved. He can be outgoing when prompted, but he is a man of few words and always has been. He is very passionate. He is very slow to anger, but watch out if you push that boundary -- he is like an angry bear. There were many times, I would have to rescue my younger twin and ask him what he had done to provoke his brother. I'm finding out as they have matured while going to university to earn their bachelor degrees how amazingly brilliant they are and very statistical. Both boys are very artistic -- as all my kids and grandkids are. The twins are avid collectors and each thing they collect has an inventory spreadsheet and value. These boys have developed a system to stay within their food budget. They itemize each ingredient they need for each of their meals, costs for each item and will set their menus in accordance to budget. The youngest one is the one who is the doer and does the grocery shopping and driving for both of them. They have assignments for each to keep the house in order. One of the twins considers himself an agnostic and the other prefers the Catholic religious beliefs. Although they attended a protestant church while growing up, they were influenced by other means. I let them have the choice when they turned 15 to stop going to church with me (I regret that decision now.) Lord willing, this year is the year both boys will be achieving their Bachelor Degrees, one is business administration and the other in History (with an interest in archiving). It's taken them a little longer, due to moving from one state to another, it invalidated some of the credits they had already earned while attending an out of state college. Unfortunately, their father left me after being married to me for 24 years and we divorced soon after.

I will share the dynamics of all these siblings. My daughter and the twins refer to their oldest brother as the golden child. They refer to him as my favorite child. Although I have mentioned to each one that they are all individually my favorite. My oldest son is a favorite because he made me a mother, my daughter is a favorite because she is my girl and gave me grandchildren and the twins both are my favorite, because they are my most wonderful twin boys. My daughter has always wanted to be competitive with the oldest son and during her Bachelors had achieved a little higher GPA than my oldest son. My oldest son in turn told her, "Well little girl, when you earn your Masters and Doctorate, then maybe we can talk and compare!!" All my kids are very good looking (I'm not being biased here.). However, one time when I was telling my twins that they are good looking boys, the younger one responded to me by saying, "Well, we aren't as good looking as the older two?" My younger twin looks more like me and my older twin looks like Jason Momoa (my son has about three feet of long hair). None of my boys are near six feet and my beautiful little girl is about 5" 2". I always prayed to God that he wouldn't let any of my boys be five foot like me and He answered my prayer. My shortest son is 5"4"!!!

My children are my joy and I would do anything for any of them and they know it. My love is unconditional when it comes to all of them. I also tell them that if I had to live my life again just to assure them being born, I would do it again!! Throughout my marriages and divorces, they have all been very forgiving and love me very much. I have not been an exemplary Mom, but they all love me just the same. We all remain very close. We make it a point to meet up and visit each other as much as we can. My children (including my son in loves) and grandchildren are constantly prayed over by me. I know seeds were planted as they were growing and I just pray those seeds grow abundantly, because my greatest reward after this life will be to be reunited with them in heaven. I am abundantly blessed!! They have been my motivating force to keep moving forward in life. Of course, they know of my relationship with God through Jesus Christ and that the Godhead is first and foremost in my life.

AI Generated:

Motherhood is described in the Bible as a precious blessing, a God-ordained ministry, and a significant spiritual journey of growth, love, and training children in wisdom and faith. Key scriptures include Psalm 127:3 ("Children are a heritage from the Lord"), Proverbs 31:28 ("Her children arise and call her blessed"), Isaiah 66:13 ("As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you"), and Proverbs 22:6 ("Train children off on the way they should go")