to Mom in the trenches

Happy Mother's Day! I know, I know, today should be a rest day.  It should be a celebration of how great of a Mom you are, but that's not quite your style. Instead, you're hanging out in the hospital playing with one of your daughters to keep her spirit up. You are helping her color all over the books you thought to bring. You are reading to her about the Something-a-saur. You are again digging into the sticker pile to find more stickers for her to place who knows where. You are singing, what the 200th rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - I think Xian has the "Up above the sky so high" part down. And you are laughing your beautiful laugh with the wee one to keep her laughing.

Doing what you do best - making the little monkeys laugh.

This week has been a challenge - with emergency room trips and two girls in the hospital, there has been little room for relaxing and the rest of us thank you for all your work. But, Mother's Day is also about thinking of all those times when you are here for your little ones. We appreciate how you stay up late working because you are completing an intensive Master's program on top of teaching, living internationally and moving our family to Beijing. We appreciate your insistence that the girls learn languages - Chinese at school, English with you, and getting me, a reluctant French speaker, to only speak French to the girls. We appreciate the projects you always include the girls on...

We appreciate your commitment to family - it is truly amazing how you build upon the girls' extended family and do the extra bit to keep connections strong.

So, on this day, we think about all that you do for us and we smile because above all you make us happy. Thanks for being so amazing! We love you!