A Tribute to the Mothers of the Ronald McDonald House

This is a tribute to the mothers of the Ronald McDonald House - mothers whose stories are each different but who share a common purpose for being here. This purpose hinges on the fact that they are mothers with courageous hearts. From all over the country, they are here, all fighting for the lives
and health of their children. From different walks of life they've come, with different languages spoken and different colors of skin, but each one's tears are salty and each one's blood is red.

So on this Mothers' Day, I pray a blessing on:

• The mother whose children are growing up away from home as she waits for news. News that an organ is available to give her child life. News that will mean a very dark journey ahead for another mother.
• The mother whose child has already received the organ and requires continued, lengthy treatment and constant vigilance.
• The step mother who stepped IN to care for a child with a chronic condition when the biological mother stepped OUT because the journey was too long.
• The mother who dropped her life elsewhere to come and support her daughter in caring for ill grandrandchildren or their siblings.
• The mother who perseveres in caring for the severely handicapped nine-year-old, knowing she will never hear an "I love you," see first steps, or feel their arms give a hug. She does whatever it takes, day after day, week after week, year after year because it is her precious child and she is the mother.
• The young mother with such an infant, just starting on the journey, who looks at those persevering mothers and says unflinchingly, "I, too, will do what it takes, as long as it takes."
• The mother of the cancer patient who stares death in the face and refuses to blink, clinging to hope.
• The tired, hungry mother who spends the day at the hospital or clinic, who drags herself to the community kitchen to prepare food for her family when she would rather put her feet up and rest.
• The mother who left for home this morning after a seven month stay here, starting on a 26-hour drive home to Kansas with her husband and young son, grateful it has all been worth it.
• And all the mothers whose stories I don't yet know, who bravely face each day to fight and care for and love their little or big ones - the ones who make them mothers.

Day in and day out, the mothers here are in it for the long haul, putting their children's needs before their own, working, fighting, advocating, learning. Ethnicity and background are insignificant. Their courageous hearts are all the same, and each one's tears are salty and each one's blood is red.