The Lady, the Occasion, the Celebration

The lady: my mother
The occasion: her 66th birthday (she said I could tell her age, so don't worry, I'm not offending her!)
The celebration: public acknowledgement of her birthday by getting her name put up on this board next to a road that probably thousands of people drive on every day...and a delicious dinner out at an Italian restaurant in town, one in which she had never eaten (celebration to be continued this Friday at our fellowship potluck!)

I'm grateful beyond words that God placed me in this family and gave me this incredible woman to be my mother. As I grow older, my admiration for her increases as I strive to live up to the example she has set in so many areas of life. If I write much more, I'll probably start crying, so...sniff...let me write one interesting thing she's told me about her very early life.

When her mother was pregnant with her, her father was wishing for a curly-haired little girl; and that's exactly what he got! Since my granddad was a farmer, it would have perhaps been more "normal" for him to wish for a son to help him on the farm, but God gave him his curly-haired little girl; and I know that my mother was a delight to her parents--all the days of their lives, I'm sure!

My mother is the firstborn in her family; and wow, is she ever a typical firstborn! When we shake our heads in amusement at Josiah's extreme firstborn behavior, we jokingly accuse my mother of passing those traits to him. All his conscientiousness, perfectionism, desire to please, abhorrence of being out of control, lack of an easy-going "everything will work out somehow" attitude must have been passed down directly from Grandma to Josiah! :)

A very long time ago, I gave my mother a card with a Mary Engelbreit illustration of a mother and daughter and this quote from Abraham Lincoln: "All that I am or hope to be I owe to my mother." I'm sure my mother still has that card somewhere since she never throws away things like that! If I could, I think I would give her that card every year because I find it so true. I simply cannot overestimate the impact she has had on my life.

I know in Proverbs 31, the children of the virtuous woman will rise up and call her blessed...but to tell the truth, I'm the blessed one.