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Just some sugestions for Mother’s Day.

Take your mom/wife on a picnic. Pack a lunch. Take some special cheese, cut up some good quality apples, make some sandwiches: peanut butter and jelly for the kids, ham,chicken or turkey with tomato and nice green lettuce, a little of mayo,salt and pepper. Bring along a book of poetry or have kids write some verses for mom and give them to her. Don’t forget some fruit or brownies for dessert and bottled water on ice.
Make sure you do all the clean up.

For something to buy her…Is there something she wants for the house? Maybe a new area rug for thr foyer, a pair of matching lamps for the bedroom, for the family room?
I am getting rugs for my foyer, hall and steps!

Think, did she see some cute sweater she wanted or a special plant for outside? Get it for her now. Buy her that piece of jewelry she pointed out.

Take her and the kids to an outside movie in your community and afterwards go for ice cream.

If it’s still chilly, build her a fire and you and the kids give her a basket of her favorite magazines and let her read while you entertain the kids or put them to bed.

Make a Spa Basket for her:
Some new nail polish, emery boards,toe nail polish kit,soothing tea, an herb face scrub, and again, a book to read.

Does she love to garden?
Get her some gardening tools, her favorite plants, pretty gardening gloves, some special cream to soothe her hands.Place it all in a nice basket.

Does she love to draw? Buy her a sketch pad and some pencils or paint and of course, a book on sketching or painting.

Just start thinking for your own ideas. Think of what she likes or points out to you. Hey, ask the kids. Make this a very special Mother’s Day. I know you can do it.

The Glue of Society

Johann Christoph Arnold
for Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009

Thank God for mothers! Mother’s Day is an opportunity to make life special
for them. It is a chance to celebrate family. I thank God for my mother,
who died some years ago. There is one thing I regret: for too many years I
did not appreciate her enough and took her for granted. She was always
there for us. I thank God for my wife. We have been married for
forty-three years and have eight children. God has blessed us with
forty-one grandchildren.

Mothers are the backbone of our society and the glue that holds a family
together-their work is vital but often unseen. We all need to show greater
appreciation for them. I pity the man who does not have a good wife to
take care of him.

My favorite Hasidic saying goes, “God could not be everywhere at once, so
he gave each child a mother!” Mothers should be proud to be mothers. It is
a God-given task and privilege. Actually there is a mother’s heart in
every woman, whether married or single. In the past, motherhood was
regarded as the noblest calling of a woman. Today it is too often pushed
aside by more “desirable” occupations such as careers, and seen as an
inconvenience or even an embarrassment.

A true mother thinks day and night about the well-being of her children,
and is the first to praise, comfort and protect them. She is willing to
sacrifice her life for them. The pains of pregnancy and childbirth are
borne by the mother, and she continues to carry the child in her heart her
whole life.

Motherhood is a mystery. It is something truly divine for which every
human heart longs. This is why mothers provide the most powerful influence
on a child’s life, and are the most important role models for positive
change in our society. When anyone is in trouble, or knows that they are
dying, the first person they think of is their mother. When children start
going wrong ways a mother’s prayer is powerful. Mothers remind us that
there is a loving God above us who will take good care of everyone,
especially children. Whenever a tragedy occurs-no matter where in the
world this happens-you will always find mothers both weeping for the dead
and bringing comfort and security to the living.

As we seek to improve the education of our children, let us start by
taking better care of our mothers. This will enable them to provide better
homes for all of us, and ensure the survival of our society. Never before
in our history have so many men abandoned the children they fathered.
Fathers are vanishing from their children’s lives, not just physically,
but legally as well. Therefore, congratulations to all single mothers and
grandmothers who do their best to raise children on their own. They often
struggle under the most difficult circumstances. They are the real heroes
of the family-and not just on Mother’s Day.

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you!

[ Johann Christoph Arnold is a pastor and author of ten books, which are
available at www.plough.com .]

By: O Quinn

Has the Mother’s Day celebration become too expensive? In the past have you taken mom out to a costly dinner and shower her with expensive gifts? As we come upon Mother’s Day we still want to let mother’s know who special they are but that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank.

Ideas for a frugal Mother’s Day celebration are endless and you hampered only by your own imagination. In our family we hold an extended family celebration. Father’s and children prepare the meal and desserts while also cleaning up after the entire shindig. Gifts are exchanged father and child to mother and mother’s to each other. Gifts are very small and usually end up being good baskets that cost only a few dollars.

The first thing to think about when putting together a Mother’s Day is that this is a wonderful opportunity to make and create. Even though we are a in a buy buy society hand crafted gifts are much more memorable and meaningful.
Here are some ideas.

Make your Mother’s Day Meal from scratch -Taking mom out to dinner can be incredibly costly. Put together your own 5 star meal at home. Roasts are so much easier to prepare now that we have those great oven bags Just follow the directions and pop it in the oven for a never dried out cut of meat. Add some potatoes and a yummy salad. Make some of your menu items before hand such as desserts and appetizers. Bake a cake from scratch rather than buying one. If you’ve never baked a cake before buy a cake mix and a tub of frosting. It’s so easy it should be outlawed. You can also find complete meal recipes and instructions on the internet also. Just do a search under “Mother’s Day Menu”. If you are rather gourmet in your cooking ability search for special recipes in magazines like Cook’s Illustrated and back issues of Victoria Magazine. Get these issues from the library.

Make your Mother’s Day cards from scratch – Scrapbook your card or cards. Be extra frugal and use flower cut outs and sentiments from previous cards in your Mother’s Day card. Do you have a printer and some great ink? You can find tons of printable cards online. Just do a search and check out what you find. You still have time make a day of it with the kids. Pull out all the paper crafts and design an outstanding Mother’s Day card. Cut flowers from ready to toss magazines. Glue them onto card-stock. Make a border out of a scrap piece of lace. Pre-print the words on the front and add you own special sentiment inside.

Make Your Mother’s Day Gifts – What would mean more to mom than a bottle of expensive perfume? Probably a day or two without household worries or cares. A week’s worth of freezer meals. Can you sew? Make mom a fragrant lavender filled neck wrap. Fill it with rice and dried lavender.

Mother’s Day is a very special day but that does not mean it has to be very expensive. Let mom know you care because you took the extra time to make it by hand.

O Quinn is a stay at home, work at home mom who while enjoying the art of taking care of home still likes to simplify the whole homemaking process. Join her affiliate program and brand these articles to earn money from your website or blog.
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