Happy Birthday, Mom!

It's unbelievable that something that began as an experiment on a quiet Saturday morning (this blog) could now have reached 100 status. And yet this is post 100, and I can think of no better topic for this post than one-half of the team making the writer of this blog possible--my mom.

This Sunday we celebrated mom's birthday (I won't say how many, but more than she looks), and, as has become tradition now on this blog, here are ten reasons I love my mom and am so thankful that God gave me such an amazing parent.

1. My mom loves God and has set a great example of faithfulness and obedience to Him for her children and grandchildren. This is the goal of any parent who loves God and understands her obligation before Him. My mom has achieved this goal.

2. I don't think I have ever known another person with more of a servant's heart than my mom. Whether it's her family, friends, neighbors, or even sometimes people she barely even knows, my mom is always there to give whatever is needed. A few examples: She (and my dad, of course--but more on his birthday) gave up her job and home in Ohio to move here to help me raise Katie and Jonathan. This took her even three hours farther away from her family in West Virginia. She often provides a listening ear to people who are going through difficult times in their lives. (In fact, she spent several hours this past Saturday listening to someone who was hurting badly.) She welcomes the neighbor kids into her home, bandages their scrapes at times, and gives them snacks. I could write a chapter book on this quality of my mom's.

3. She has a great sense of humor which has shaped her very down-to-earth mothering style. This is a mom who often bit her lip while she was spanking my brother, in particular, because while what he did required punishment, it was definitely funny and pretty hard not to laugh. She would threaten us with phrases like, "I'm going to beat the snot out of you," but we knew she wouldn't really. And I'd like to think my penchant for sarcasm has been inherited from her.

4. She has overcome great obstacles and challenges with absolutely no sign of bitterness. She grew up in poverty in West Virginia and was made fun of because of her raggedy clothes. Her dad died when she was only in her early twenties. Her daughter Kristi died at the age of twenty in 1990, and then her son-in-law (my husband) died in 1996. She lives with these thorns with a grace and dignity and has made it a point to comfort others with the comfort she has received.

5. She taught me everything I know about being a girly girl, especially in the areas of hair, clothes, and make-up. Our little family joke: How do you know when Helen/Annette is really sick? She has no make-up on. Thanks to Mom, it's a rare situation when you find me outside of my house with my hair not in place and no make-up.

6. Her vegetable soup, chop suey, and chipped beef gravy on toast.

7. Her mastery of the fine balance between being a doting grandparent and a strict taskmaster, when necessary. Probably each of her four grandchildren would tell you that he or she is the favorite because she makes them feel so special. But look out if you need a "talking to"--because she'll give you one that will give much food for thought.

8. Her story-telling skills, which she inherited from her own mother. You may have heard the same story a thousand times, but each time there's a bit of a different twist. And somehow, in her stories, her children and grandchildren are always the funniest, smartest, bravest, and best.

9. The role model she set for me as a working mom. Her job was important to her, and she enjoyed it (she was a purchasing agent for many of my growing-up years, when women purchasing agents were few and far between), but her family's needs always came first, and we knew it.

10. Mom is a walking medical dictionary. When the doctors don't know, or you'd just rather have an opinion that you know is probably right, just check with my mom.

My mom "opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness" (Proverbs 31:26-27). Happy birthday, dear Mom!