Bonne Fête des Mamans! Happy Mother's Day (in France)!

Today is Mother's Day in France. One challenge in being in France is that Mother's Day often falls on a different Sunday than it does in our native country. We risk not telephoning on that Mother's Day to our moms and one living grandmother.

Sadly, our church doesn't do anything in particular to honor those who are mothers. We have quite a large of number of single women, of whom a few are bothered when the mothers are set apart. In French culture, stay home mothers are often looked down upon. It's kind of like the Theresa Heinz-Kerry statement that Laura Bush never had a "real job" in her life.

Since our son arrived in our lives over 3 years ago, I've seen Nicole work some amazingly long days (and nights too) focusing on meeting the needs of our one (then two) kids and trying to give them as good a start as possible. Even though she enjoys her sleep, she's given up lots of it for their sakes.

Thanks, my dear Nicole, for your current "career" as a homemaker and stay-home mom. Thanks as well to my mom for the same career choices when I was young. I'm grateful to both of you.