Happy Mother's Day
Mother's Day...another holiday that judging by the ads in the newspaper has provided retail businesses with a little boost. I tend to like gifts that come from the hands of my children. The teachers at school always do such a great job or providing the kids with the opportunity to create something special for their mom. I love these things, although much of the time, they don't tend to last long or get preserved. They will be preserved in pictures this year at least so I can remember them. I remember making some of the very same things for my mom. I loved giving gifts. I think I got that from my mom, and maybe from my grandma a little too. My grandma is so wonderful at sending the kids something for each little holiday. She always makes up a little care package with little gifts for Easter, Valentine's, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...My mom used to always send a care package to me in college and even the first years of our marriage. I think after we started having children, her focus shifted, and now that we have seven, it is a full time job just to keep birthday cards sent on time! :) A couple of things that I got from my mom that I absolutely loved were an artist's sketching 3-D figure and a little halloween ghost candy dish.
I wish that there was some way to show children how much their moms love them and have them understand it when they're little. I'm positive I had no idea just how much my mom loved me until I was a mom. So many more things make sense now. Those things that used to seem annoying because my mom just wouldn't let me do my own thing or have my own way or let go long enough...I now recognize that she was just being my mom...looking out for me, trying to help me not make mistakes or get hurt.
I think my mom and I have a great relationship. I never would have thought 20 years ago that we would be friends. Don't get me wrong, I loved my mom when I was 18, I just don't think I would have thought to call her first with really exciting news. I'm sure I had other friends that should've known something first. Now, I'm sure that I call her multiple times a week if not multiple times a day, most of the time just to talk.
I do know that my mom prayed for me--she must have prayed alot...I think my life turned out pretty great. She took the time to teach me so many things. Most importantly about Jesus. Teaching is a hard thing to do, and it would certainly be easy to leave many things up to formal educaters. Send kids to school and let someone else take care of it all. My mom sent us to Sunday school and VBS and confirmation classes...she could have stopped there...she didn't. She taught us at home and at church. I still remember the daily devotions that popped up out of the little plastic toaster in the shape of bread slices with devotions on them and the book that I know have. She was diligent. She did more than teach...she lived what she was teaching. That's hard too! And then there is the cooking, sewing, cleaning, coloring, painting, etc. All those things I learned from my mom. I joke that she was the sewing Nazi, but considering what I'm doing with my sewing skills now, I guess maybe it wasn't so bad. She took us to Carolyn Main's ceramic store to paint ceramic pieces for ourselves, and for gifts to others. She took us to Cheyenne to go shopping for school clothes...that was a big deal, because Scottsbluff didn't have a mall yet, so it was big city shopping. She took us to movies in the theater on organ lesson nights, and to Scotty's drive-in for hamburgers. Those were splurges! She hoed in the beet and bean fields with us so we could earn our school shopping money. She enjoyed the little things with us...car washes, taking lunches to dad in the field, planting a garden, painting the clothes line poles like candy canes, riding in the beet truck, playing pretend, getting up early to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. I watch her enjoy things with my kids in much the same way.
What I admire most about my mom: she is/has always been content with her life. She never sits and pines for something that she doesn't have. She's just happy where she is.
I love my mom and I always look forward to our time we spend together and thank her for all of the things she's provided to me. Happy Mother's Day mom!
I wish that there was some way to show children how much their moms love them and have them understand it when they're little. I'm positive I had no idea just how much my mom loved me until I was a mom. So many more things make sense now. Those things that used to seem annoying because my mom just wouldn't let me do my own thing or have my own way or let go long enough...I now recognize that she was just being my mom...looking out for me, trying to help me not make mistakes or get hurt.
I think my mom and I have a great relationship. I never would have thought 20 years ago that we would be friends. Don't get me wrong, I loved my mom when I was 18, I just don't think I would have thought to call her first with really exciting news. I'm sure I had other friends that should've known something first. Now, I'm sure that I call her multiple times a week if not multiple times a day, most of the time just to talk.
I do know that my mom prayed for me--she must have prayed alot...I think my life turned out pretty great. She took the time to teach me so many things. Most importantly about Jesus. Teaching is a hard thing to do, and it would certainly be easy to leave many things up to formal educaters. Send kids to school and let someone else take care of it all. My mom sent us to Sunday school and VBS and confirmation classes...she could have stopped there...she didn't. She taught us at home and at church. I still remember the daily devotions that popped up out of the little plastic toaster in the shape of bread slices with devotions on them and the book that I know have. She was diligent. She did more than teach...she lived what she was teaching. That's hard too! And then there is the cooking, sewing, cleaning, coloring, painting, etc. All those things I learned from my mom. I joke that she was the sewing Nazi, but considering what I'm doing with my sewing skills now, I guess maybe it wasn't so bad. She took us to Carolyn Main's ceramic store to paint ceramic pieces for ourselves, and for gifts to others. She took us to Cheyenne to go shopping for school clothes...that was a big deal, because Scottsbluff didn't have a mall yet, so it was big city shopping. She took us to movies in the theater on organ lesson nights, and to Scotty's drive-in for hamburgers. Those were splurges! She hoed in the beet and bean fields with us so we could earn our school shopping money. She enjoyed the little things with us...car washes, taking lunches to dad in the field, planting a garden, painting the clothes line poles like candy canes, riding in the beet truck, playing pretend, getting up early to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. I watch her enjoy things with my kids in much the same way.
I love my mom and I always look forward to our time we spend together and thank her for all of the things she's provided to me. Happy Mother's Day mom!
