I need to share this experience that happened today with you, my sisters and friends. I have nursed a lot of babies for a lot of years, but something happened today that I have never experienced before. I was nursing baby Everett and reading on the couch. He'd been nursing for about ten minutes, when he stopped, stood up on my lap, and put both his little arms around my neck and gave me a hug. Then he laid back down and continued to nurse. Even as I write it, it seems surreal. No baby of mine has ever done that before! It was so sweet of him.

Not all of my days are filled with sweet moments like this. I'm taken to the edge of my patience many times each day as I spend my time with these children of ours. But I also experience amazing feelings of joy and excitement as I see them making choices and understanding things we are learning together. These feelings I do not believe I would experience in the same way in any other setting or role on earth.

I've been thinking of a few experiences that preface what happened today. Years ago, I was a nanny for two little people, named Robbie (4) and Kylee (2). I was seventeen and the Lord continued to teach me of mothering. Their mom's name was Karen and she and her husband worked together. I remember her saying one time that it was not 'quantity' time, but 'quality' time that mattered. I know that it was hard for her to leave her children and this is probably part of what she told herself to find a little peace with her decision to work outside the home. I spent a lot of my days with these little toddlers. They would say and do funny, sad or silly things that I got to see and be a part of in place of their mom. I learned that it was in 'quantity' time that the things of 'quality' happen. A mother cannot always plan each moment that her child will need a guiding hand, an extra kind word, or when a teaching moment 'should' be. The needs of a child just arise during a normal course of the day. The Lord was teaching me and helping me to experience what mothering was all about. What if I chose to be somewhere else and a nanny was teaching or not teaching my child?

A few years later I was a nanny again. This time for a little baby named Jack. My sweet Jack. How he blessed my life! I remember one time in particular. It was his christening day and we were all gathered at his family's house. His parents, grandparents and a lot of family friends were there. He was being passed around and adored on his big day. But who did that little baby want out of all that family there? Me! I remember thinking how tragic that was! Who was I to this sweet baby? I wasn't his mom. I was just this girl who came everyday and loved, nurtured, adored and enjoyed him and he knew it! He felt all those same feelings for me too. Oh, how essential our roles as mothers!

"Mothers, this kind of heavenly, motherly teaching takes time-lots of time. It cannot be done effectively part-time. It must be done all the time in order to save and exalt our children. This is your divine calling." President Benson

My third experience is with my own mom and what she chose. I remember her being home when I came home from school. I would call out for her and she would answer from some corner of the house that she was there. (She was probably folding laundry.) I didn't necessarily need her right that minute for anything, I just wanted to know that she was there. A small handful of times, she would not be home and there would be a key in the mailbox so we could let ourselves in. I don't remember worrying where she was. I knew that she would be home soon because we were a priority to her. We were important to her. I think one of the ways I learned that was by her just being home for us when we were home, so that we could feel of her love for us.

The Lord taught me about my own possible future role and placed in my heart desires to spend my time with my children. That brings us to today when my sweet baby gave me a little glimpse into his tiny heart. It helped me to know that I am doing God's work because as Charles Dickens said best,

"I love these little people, and it is not a slight thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us."

May we each rejoice in our God-given roles as mothers or future mothers. love you all, amber