Day 102: Don't Mess with Texas? Don't Mess with Mommies!

Mike and I were having a conversation the other day in the car about being adoptive parents and how we wondered if there was a moment in the life of an adoptive parent when you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that your adopted kids are REALLY yours.  What moment cements that into your heart?

I believe I had that moment yesterday.

I always say that I have pretty thick skin unless you say something bad about my kids.  And that is incredibly, incredibly true.  It's not that I am unaware of my children's shortcomings.  I know they aren't perfect.  I'm okay with being told they weren't nice to their peers today, or they aren't making good grades, or anything else along those lines.  There's just a line, and when it's crossed, it's not pretty.

Today, something happened at church related to the girls.  (I'm not going to go into the details, because that ISN'T the point of this blog today)  Someone said a few things to me, about them, that absolutely crushed me.  Though their words were well-intentioned, they shot like arrows deep into the softest places in my heart.  The place where a mother's love is.

To say I cried a little or got my feelings hurt for them would be a grand understatement.  I burst into tears.  I cried buckets in the hallway of church. I cried so hard I had to leave church, which happens to be my job, by the way. I cried all the way home.  I'm talking UGLY crying here people.  Swollen face, red eyes, snot flowing, ugly crying.  And I cried off and on all day long.  Because my mother's heart hurt for my babies.  Every time I thought about it again, I cried.

And I realized last night, that yesterday was my  moment.  The moment that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that those girls are mine (well, ours). It's cemented into my heart.

All that to say, people might think I'm a pretty tough cookie.  And though I might crumble at first, I'm even tougher when it comes to my kids, any of the four of them.  Don't mess with Texas?  Don't mess with Mommies!