Mother’s Day Card Printable
Mother’s Day is just one month away and I’m already making plans for my annual Mother’s Day Brunch that I host for my wonderful mother each year. If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve seen some of the photos that are inspiring my decor this year. I’ll be sharing lots more in the coming weeks, so check in! But first, April 24 – 30, 2016 is National Infertility Awareness Week and it is something I try to highlight to each year. #NIAW
I hope as you approach Mother’s Day, you remember those struggling with infertility. There are thousands of couples (statistically in the US it is 1 in 8 couples) struggling to grow their families. Those women have heartache and sadness that is acute any day, but especially on Mother’s Day.
For several years as my husband and I struggled to conceive, Mother’s Day was filled with tears. I would sit through church and cry thinking about my empty arms and longing heart. Then as the children distributed little flowers, pictures or treats to the Moms in the congregation I wanted to crawl into a cave and never come out! It was so painful! During my first pregnancy Mother’s Day came and someone said something to the effect that now I would finally become a Mother and that next year I would be getting a Mother’s Day card or gift from the children at church. It was incredibly painful to feel like the only way the world would acknowledge me as a Mother was based on being surrounded by my own children. For years I had felt very motherly as I loved and cherished my nieces and nephews and at that moment my body was laboring to nourish and care for my twin girls who were 27 weeks gestation and who had so much of my heart! I believe that Motherhood is part of our divine identity as women. That is why the quote on this card is so meaningful to me.
Yesterday my husband and I did In Vitro Fertilization for the 5th time. In fact, this will be our last time. It is an incredibly difficult procedure emotionally and physically. The hormone injections leave you feeling, well – hormonal and crappy. The stress and anxiety can almost be overpowering. The procedures leading up to it are invasive and painful. But I feel so grateful for the incredibly talented doctors and nurses (at the Utah Center for Reproductive Medicine) who have chosen this as their field of work, they have been so amazing to work with. It has been an exhausting 7 1/2 years with so much heartache, sorrow, disappointment, loss and pain (not to mention the financial burden of over $85k out of pocket). But through In Vitro we have our daughter Lucy, our angel daughter Sophia and our son Grayson and they are the light of my life!
If you are struggling with infertility my advice to you is #StartAsking questions! Find out all you can about infertility – the tests available, the terms used, the procedures available, the cost involved. Find a reproductive endocrinologist that will work with you to find answers. The Resolve website also has TONS of information and I highly recommend it!
This quote by Patricia Holland is my favorite, you can see the expanded quote here and the full talk that the quote comes from here. Each year I take a special treat along with a Mother’s Day card to some of the couples I know are struggling with infertility. I invite you to do the same!
Print out this free Mother’s Day Card and gift it to someone you know that needs a lift this year!
CLICK HERE: Mother’s Day Card
Happy Mother’s Day to all women who have a Mother Heart!
What an awesome and beautiful idea Tia to target those struggling with growing their families on Mother’s Day. I enjoyed getting to know you better through this post. It seems though you have been through some real heartache and have come out with such a beautiful perspective of it all. Very inspiring. I hope I do the same with the struggles in my life.