By Leticia Espinales

I believe that motherhood begins the moment you learn the positive results of your pregnancy test. Once confirmation is complete and you know your blessed gift from God is on its way – your life is forever changed.

At least that’s the way it was for me. Even though it was a planned event, it was still difficult to get my head around the fact that a child was going to join our family in eight months.Suddenly I became aware how little time that was to get ready for such an enormous life change and responsibility.

Most ex-pectant mothers do all they can think of to prepare and I was no exception. I know I read every book on pregnancy, labor, deli-very and child care I could get my hands on. Another vast font of information was my mom as she was a great resource beyond my years, as well as other family and friends.

I believe preparation is key in many facets of motherhood. A mother prepares for the baby and its needs before, during and after its birth. As the child grows, a parent will try to best prepare the child physically and emotionally, to the best of her ability.

Yet with all the difficulties incurred in motherhood, I wonder how a mother can prepare to say goodbye. It is such this dilemma I foresee for, Yursala, a close family friend who has not only served her country proudly for the past 12 years in the U.S. Army, but is also a fantastic single mother. She is deploying to Iraq in March which will thusly separate her from her 5-year-old daughter, Anaiah.

Yursala’s parents are superb people in every way and will be taking tremendous care of Anaiah, who is not only beautiful, but intelligent, talkative, ever-growing and has a gleeful exuberance for life. Despite leaving her in the loving hands of her parents, Yursala knows she will missing some great milestones, such as Anaiah’s sixth birthday and her first day of first grade.

Now tell me, how does a mother prepare for that?

Obviously, this soldier will not be the first or last mom who will have to prepare their children for such a separation; however, it is because I have known her and her parents personally for 21 years that I dwell upon the heartache she must be experiencing at this time.

And so as I admire her strength in character as she undertakes this extreme challenge and duty both here and in Iraq, I ask that as you hug and tuck your little one to sleep at night, I hope you will join me in keeping little Anaiah; her mom, Yursala; and all the other service members and their families in your daily prayers as they all endure the long journey ahead.

Leticia Espinales can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it