Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!
 
Hello everyone, this is Chou Gabikiny.  For those of you that don't know me, I'm the founder of Grace and Hope Consulting. I'm a board-certified Christian counselor and a certified cognitive behavior therapist.  Today I just wanted to wish all the moms out there happy Mother's Day!

Today is one of my favorite days because not only I get to encourage all the mothers, but it's a special day that my kids remind me that they appreciate having me as a mother.  They're young so they do things maybe a little differently but even the smallest thing touches my heart. 

Today I just want to encourage the mother, the one who's doing it all, and maybe you are doing it alone and it is hard, and it is stressful. It is overwhelming.  I just want you to remember that what you're doing… it is an investment and there is going to be a return on this investment.  It might be hard today but just wait and see. I know I talk a lot about long-term because I want you to plan for the future, brighter future, so yes in the moment it might be stressful but remember your kids need you and you are building the next generation of brave people, brave women and men, and responsible people who will contribute to society and make a big difference in the world, so stay encouraged. 

Also, try to cherish this moment. Try to cherish the moment that you have right now with your children, they grow up so fast.  My oldest just turned 11 like a month ago and I can still remember the day I brought her home.  I remember when she was just born. Oh my goodness, I was a first-time mom and in a foreign country and I was alone and saying that I felt overwhelmed would be an understatement, right? 

Again, cherish that moment, they grow up so fast, and those little things they do today might be annoying but looking back those are the things that make life a little more colorful.  So enjoy your kids today, enjoy your family today and remember that what you're doing is making an impact in the long run, that you are the one taking care of and building that next generation of women, men, of people bringing change to this world.  Stay encouraged. Keep at it. Stay the course.  keep up the good work and know that you are valued.  Yes, you are valued. What you do, no one can do what you do.

I read a while back somewhere about...I can't remember, I'll paraphrase it, I don't remember exactly how it was written but something to the extent of “God knew that you could do such a wonderful job that's why He gave you the kids that you have”.

I'm going to speak now to mothers of kids with special needs.  The journey is long, it's tiresome. All the doctors’ appointments, all the therapy appointments, the sleepless nights and all the people you have to coordinate, the care that you have to coordinate day in and day out.  It is hard but God knew that you are able to do it, that you are stronger than what you thought, and He will never give us more than we can handle. 

Sometimes we might feel like "we cannot handle it anymore," but there's more strength in us.  I can make a whole two-hour video about the strength that I discovered in myself when I started taking care of my children.  I learned that I had more patience than I thought I did. I had more strength than I thought I did. I was more organized than I thought I was just because again, through those times of need came those skills. It was by necessity that I discovered who I am and what I’m good at. I had to become that person in order to provide the care that I provide to my own children right now.  But through that process it made me who I am today, it made me this...I can go on and on, but I learned to advocate because I had kids who need someone to advocate for them.  I learned to navigate systems of care because I had kids who needed someone to navigate the system for them, and I became a parent that was living more in the moment because I needed to live in the moment and enjoy even the smallest milestones.

I remember with one of my sons, he was maybe nine months by the time he could sit. He had a physical disability at birth and when he started sitting I made a big deal out of it. Many people didn’t understand why I made such a big deal about my son sitting up. Perhaps they didn’t realize how hard we've worked for this, how many therapy sessions we had just to get to this point right, and the frustration itself when you're trying to make everything fit in the calendar and get everybody's needs met. 

Again, on this Mother's Day, please know that you are special; that what you do is very worthwhile. Nobody can do what you do and that your children see it. God sees it, and that you are irreplaceable. 
Keep up the good work and enjoy your day. Maybe nobody will give you flowers, buy flowers for yourself, I do that.  It's like if you can’t always wait for someone to do that for you. If your kids are young like mine, they can't do much but maybe they might do a drawing for you, and that's great; maybe what you wanted was chocolate and flowers, or it was a treatment at the spa.  Whatever it is that you think you need in order to celebrate Mother's Day, do it for yourself.  Don't always wait for other people to do it for you, especially when there's nobody else around to do it.  When you learn to recognize that what you do is enough and that you are enough, you start treating yourself accordingly, and the way you treat yourself tells people how to treat you.  So happy Mother's Day! 

Alright, stay encouraged gals!