To My Mom

I have been blessed with an amazing mom.  She has always been there for me, my best friend.  Over the years and through all of the changes life has brought me mom has always been there for me.  In honor of Mother's Day today I want to share some of what my mom means to me along with some pictures.

Five generation picture at only a few weeks old.

I am so thankful for the history of my family that mom has taught me.  The picture above is a five generation picture. I am so thankful for the Godly example these four women have been to me.  Even Grandma Love, who I barely met as a baby, mom kept her memory alive for my sisters and I.  Mom has been wonderful at passing on wisdom to all of my sisters and I, whether it was in the area of friends not treating us well, those math problems I hated or advice for the future.  Mom has always been there with Godly counsel for me.

When I was still just a baby and you and dad were busy building our first home, but you always found the time to be mom.  Whether it was holding me, talking to me or just playing in boxes with me, you were always there.  I have nothing but wonderful memories of you dropping everything to give me attention when I needed it, both as a young child and still today.  I am so thankful that you always were there for me and willing to let things go to spend time with me.  It is my prayer that someday when I am a mother and I am wanting to get laundry done and my little girl asks me to go play in the boxes, that I will remember your example and let the laundry go for a while to invest time in my children.  I am the person I am today because you did take the time to invest in me instead of always making sure the house was magazine perfect.

You were always there for me when my world was shaken up and I didn't know what to do from the very beginning.  While I don't have any memories of it, I most certainly know the stories, and the videos of me as a toddler verify them quite well.  It was a huge shock to me as a little twenty month old when you brought home two babies from the hospital (my twin sisters, Christina and Rebekah) and all of your attention no longer belonged to me.  You were there though and helped me pick up the pieces and taught me how to be a big sisters and share your attention.

You patiently went through my nightly ritual as a young child, tucking me in with EVERY stuffed animal I owned.  (Hey, you can't leave a stuffed animal out, their feelings might get hurt!!!)  Thank you for being there for me every night and listening to my prayers and going through the countless goodnights before I finally gave in to sleep.

Right before a dance recital

You were the perfect stage mom for my sisters and I back when we were in dance.  I don't know how you did it, but every year as recital came around, you would make sure we all knew our routines perfectly.  Come recital night, you would do all four of our hair into buns, slicking back our bangs that we all hated so much and put make up on all of us like a pro, making sure we were all changed into each of our costumes in time for each of our routines.

Thank you for always having a hug for me.  Whenever I was hurt or scared, or just needing one, you always had a hug and kiss for me.  I never once had to wonder if you loved me, it was a fact that I grew up with, that showed in everything you did.

You patiently took me to music lessons and tried to get me to practice, even when I didn't want anything to do with lessons.  Yet you were also willing to let me give up violin when the stress began to effect my health.  While violin may not have worked out, you still made me take piano, even when at times I wanted nothing more than to quit.  Yet, if you had not insisted it was part of my education, I would not have developed the love I now have for the piano and would not be able to have the wonderful piano students I now so dearly love teaching.

You let me try out for countless plays and took me to both the auditions as well as every single practice.  The most memorable of all the plays I have ever done though was definitely Christmas Post, when I got to play a mother-daughter role with you.  It was thanks to your sacrifice that I even won the part.  When we went to auditions first night I got shy, since it was my first time to try out for a mainly adult cast and I was awful.  I clammed up and just barely whispered the lines.  I got home and knew, just as you did, that there was no way I was going to get the part.  Yet, I wanted it so badly that you worked hard with me the whole next day and took me back the next night to try out.  That night they let me read next to you and I was able to do what I needed to do with you there backing me up.  After we discovered I had made the part you continued to work with me, making sure I knew the lines and where to come in on the songs.  That was my most favorite play I have ever been in, and it was possible because you were there, cheering me on and helping me through it all.

You were my teacher in Star's, our churches equivalent to AWANA's.  You helped me learn all of my memory verses and catechisms so that at the end of the three year course I could pass the test and be crowned honor star.  I still remember all of the verses you helped me learn, whether it was through putting them to song, or just having me say them over and over and over again until I knew them by heart.  Thank you so much for putting such importance on my sisters and my walks with God.  You always let us know that out of everything you accomplished in life, the only thing that truly mattered to you is that all four of us would follow God all the days of our lives.  Thank you so much for all of the prayers you have prayed over us, you are one of the greatest blessings God has ever given me.

Then there w as learning to drive.  If it was not for you, I would probably STILL be waiting to learn! Haha, actually, if it wasn't for you, I would still be happily going through life not wanting anything to do with vehicles.  I was terrified of the thought of getting behind the wheel, but when I was turning seventeen and still refusing to get my learners permit, you just let me know I had till this date to study for it and you were taking me to get it, whether I had studied or not.  Well, I did not want to fail the drivers test, so I studied and you quizzed me to make sure I knew my stuff.  After completing that hurdle, you had no idea that a bigger one was yet to come.  My lifelong fear of semis!  You patiently taught me how to drive in neighborhoods and around town, and then it came time for the highway.  You were a perfect trooper when we came to the highway for the first time and at the last second I saw a semi and flipped out and could not find the courage to go on the highway.  You patiently took me around town for a few more weeks before you finally got me on the highway.  Why, you even made me face my fear and do the unthinkable....... pass a semi on a turn!

Through the years, you have always been there for me. You were there to wipe the tears away for me as a young child when I was crying because I got hurt or my best friend was moving away.  You have been my best friend, guiding me as all my other friends were one day my friend, then the next day didn't want anything to do with me, and then would suddenly want me back.  I didn't know what was going on, but you were there for me, constant and steady, teaching me the very real truth, friends come and go, but God and family will always be there for me.  When I went through those rough early teenage years not sure what I should be, feeling as though everywhere I turned someone had drastically different expectations from me than someone else, you were there telling me not to look to man for approval, but to look to God.  That last night before graduation when it suddenly hit me I would no longer be homeschooled and I wasn't sure if I was ready for college and all of the growing up that went with it, you were there for me, holding me and letting me know I could do it and you would still be there for me, just in a slightly different role, and you have been.  When I was going through that calculus class this past semester and I was ready to just throw the book out the window and give up, you came alongside of me and made sense of all of that mumbo-jumbo that looked like Greek before!  When I came up to you as a little five year old and told you God had told me I would someday be a missionary you didn't tell me that we'll talk about it later, or to forget about it.  Instead you have been my biggest cheer leader, believing in me, knowing that is where God is leading me from the second I told you.  This is only a small portion of what you have done for me, not even 1%.  I wish I was better with words so that I could fully explain how much you mean to me, but unfortunately that is not one of the gifts God has given me.  I love you so much mom, thank you for always being there for me.  For holding me through laughter and tears, always cheering me on, all the prayers you have prayed over me and never, not once, giving up on me.  I love you and am the person I am today because of you.  Happy Mothers Day mom!