My mother-in-law

I previously mentioned that I would expand on what my mother-in-law did while Steve and I were in Cabo. Some of you may get extremely jealous that I have such an amazing mother-in-law. First of all, my MIL has always been amazing, but not until I had children did I realize just what a gift she was. She lives 40 miles from us, yet she would drop everything to come over and watch the kids for us. When we had Aaron she was still working full time, but she would take 1-2 days off a week (using her amazing accumulation of sick time) to come and watch Aaron while I worked. She then retired ...wooohooo :) . I would often come home to a clean house and dinner waiting on the stove. She would be at my house early in the morning with a coffee for me from my favorite coffee place. She did this without any expectation or stipulation for something in return. I was in awe (and still am) of how selfless she is. She is also an amazing encourager. She has a gift for finding the good side of every situation. This is despite the fact that she's had so many losses in her life. I could go on and on about how much she means to me. During our trip to Cabo she mostly stayed at our house with the kids, because she knows that they are more comfortable in their own surroundings which means they don't miss mommy and daddy as much. When Steve and I came home, the first thing I noticed was that all of our shoes in our garage had been organized. It usually looks like there was a shoe bomb outside our door, but they were all neatly paired together. Hence, I call her the shoe fairy. The house was so nice and clean when we got home, and I keep discovering new things that she did. She organized my linen closet..."linen fairy", she organized the kids rooms, including going through their clothes to get rid of the ones that are too small, then organizing all their drawers. She had hung or put away all our laundry "laundry fairy", she had organized my silverware drawer "fork fairy". Monday I opened the freezer to find that it was no longer the place where food got stuffed in, only to get lost and never be seen again..."freezer fairy". Then I noticed that my spice cabinet and baking cabinet were organized and cleaner "cabinet fairy". In the midst of all that she cared for my children, drove Aaron to school and picked him up, and took the kids out to ice cream 3x (according to my son). She also kept all my plants alive...well, actually she does this anyway..."plant fairy".
I don't know if she'll read this or not, but I hope she knows how dear she is to me, and I how much I appreciate everything she does for us. Words really could never express my appreciation and love for her. Someday I hope to be to my daughter and daughter-in-law what she has been for me.