Mother's Day --A Long Line of Love

Today at church the title of the sermon was 'A Long Line of Love.' I am sure the message was different for everyone, but all I could think of was Olivia's line of love. The sermon was about how a person can feel the love of their mother, grandmothers, etc. How you reflect what you have been taught because of the love that was shared by family. Pastor Wallace mentioned how A. Lincoln was grateful for his mother (who passed away when he was a boy) and for his stepmother because she also gave him endless love. His mother's main goal for him was for him to be able to learn how to read. His stepmother saw that he learned how to read and taught him through the scriptures.
After this point I began thinking about Olivia's line of love. She has a unique line of love. It is not like mine or anyone else's in my family. Her line of love began the day her birthmother gave her life and decided that she wanted more for her. She knew that she could not afford the medical treatment that Olivia needed and loved her enough to give her up in hopes that she would be placed with a family that would love her unconditionaly and give her all she needs. From there, her line immediately grew. She was placed with her foster mother. Her foster mother is seeing that she is cared for day in and day out. She sleeps with her on the floor each night and loves on her. She knows that she is a temporary caregiver for Olivia, but gives her the love she needs for the time that she has her. On March
25th, she entered our line of love. I fell in love with her the minute I heard about her. We will teach her how to be a caring, giving person and how to love. Though our line of love is limited at this time, it will not be for long. Once we bring her home, her line of love will grow and she will grow in that love. She is actually blessed to have so many different lines of love. Not many people are given that many opportunities for so many different people to show thier love for one person. She has essentially 3 mothers. She is blessed. We all play a very important role in making her who she is and who she will become. I am so grateful to her birth mother and foster mother for all that they have done. I thank God for allowing us the opportunity to get to have her as our child. She will know her entire love line. Not just the one that begins with us.
A. Lincoln's stepmother could have easily told him that he would not learn to read and that he would work on the family farm as most did at that time. Instead, she honored his mother's love and gave him the chance to bloom.
Olivia, we can't wait for you to bloom!

My best friend, Ashley, sent me a text this morning wishing me a Happy 1st Mother's Day. While I have referred to John and I as 'mom and dad' on here, and talked about us being her parents, I had not anticipated anyone saying 'Happy Mother's Day' to me today. I told her that I was hopeful for next mother's day and she told me that this one is just as important. She reminded me that she is ours even though she isn't here with us. She is right! Thank you for that Ashley!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!