Miss you today Mom...

I am a blog addict. I can't even tell you how many I have in my Google Reader. I think that may come from my affinity for biographies and autobiographies. Those have always been my favorite genres to read. And don't even get me started on the "E's True Hollywood Stories." I could watch those all day. So when the blog craze began a few years ago, I slowly began getting involved. It started with scrapbookers, then some friends began blogging, and the story goes on. Anyway, I came across one of my favorite blogs this week, and she had a post in honor of Mother's Day listing 5 things she learned from her mom. She challenged any of her readers to do the same. So here is my tribute to my mom. I miss her terribly. For those of you who don't know, she passed away from cancer 4 years ago. Today, I dug this photo out from one of her albums- ironically it was taken on Mother's Day 1990.

5 things I learned from my mom...

1) My mom taught me how to write. She was a journaler, a letter writer, and fantastic with the written word. She was my go-to proofreader when I wrote endless papers in high school and college. She appreciated a well -written article or funny story and would often share things she'd clipped out of magazines and newspapers and send them to me.

2) My mom taught me to say "thank you." I remember the last words out of her mouth when I'd head out the door when someone was taking me somewhere. "Be sure to tell them thanks before you get out of the car." For some reason, I felt stupid doing that when I was younger (I don't know why), but I always knew my mom would ask me if I'd said thanks, so that was motivation to do it! My grandma would always send us $10 on our birthdays, and we always had to write a thank you letter or call her after receiving it. Showing gratitude was a gift I can thank my mother for instilling in me.

3) loving and serving the Lord is my #1 priority. She was a prayer warrior for us kids and grandkids. She typed a monthly devotion that she sent out to our entire family for years. She taught our Luther League (youth group) while I was in Jr. High and High School and spent hours researching and planning our Bible lessons and activities. She loved the Lord and taught her children to as well.

4) the love of photos. She was the photographer in our family. We complained endlessly about having to pose in front of every sign and statue on family vacations and taking a million pictures (it seemed) before opening Christmas gifts, but I am so grateful for all of those photos today. I have all of the photo albums she filled over the years, and I cherish them. I am slowly going through those and taking them out of the old magnetic albums and organizing them. Even though she didn't "scrapbook" like I do today, she loved putting together theme albums, with quotes and sayings and did a great one for my graduation and high school years.

5) being a mom is the best job in the world. That was her goal. That was her career path. She wanted to be a mom. She taught piano lessons and played the organ for church and funerals, but her passion was at home...with her family. She put all of her energy into us, our needs, our activities, our lives. Her greatest joy came from the successes of her children and grandchildren. She cared about the little details in our lives. After she died, we found a journal of hers. In it, we found a page for each one of her children, their spouses, and her 14 grandchildren. On it were our personal favorites- food, perfumes, brands of things we liked, etc. She LISTENED as we talked about life, wrote those things down, and made each individual feel special. Her life was about other people. I just wish my boys could have known her better. She would be so happy to see them both playing the piano. She would be thrilled to know that Brennan has a streak going of not missing a word on a final spelling test all year (she helped me study for many a spelling test over the years), she would be so proud of the handsome young man Bradley has become. She would smile to know that they think of her every time they eat a raspberry as it was at Nana and Papa's where they learned to love them. She would cry tears of joy knowing that Bradley chose to be baptized last year and that Brennan has asked Christ into his heart. Mom, you would be so proud of them...just like I am.

My eyes are so full of tears now, I cannot see the screen. For all of you with mothers still here on earth, give them an extra big hug next time you see them and tell them how much they mean to you. I would give anything to be able to do that one more time.

I hope all of you mothers had a wonderful day!