Happy Mother's Day!

Just had to take the time to post about my Mom. She is an amazing person, but an even more amazing mother. Beautiful, stubborn, independent, determined, strong, funny, sarcastic, skilled, talented, creative, competitive, feminine, and passionate--she embodies everything I admire in a woman.

 

She was only 19 when she married my Dad. She was a successful hairstylist on Ventura Blvd in California and Dad was quickly moving up in the company he worked for while he was finishing up his BA. She and Dad were determined to continue to be successful. Their focus was on how fast they could achieve a certain financial status. They agreed to only have two children that they would have while they were young so they could be free and independent again before they were 40.

 

 

Mom had her first child, my brother, when she was 21. I came along two years later. I must have been a pretty amazing kid because Mom decided to change her plans of having only two kids and had nine more after me.

 

Yep, that's right. 9 more. She has 11 children. And ok, I'll admit it, 9 more came for another reason a part from how adorable I was as a baby. Her goals of financial success and living the American dream quickly changed when she became a born again Christian. Very soon after her conversion she felt God calling her to have children and raise them for Him. Her mission field was her family. The more children she had, the more opportunities she had of bringing one more soul to heaven one day. Her material goals now became nothing and she put her heart and soul into these new eternal goals.

Mom quit her job at this point and became a stay-at-home-mom. She pulled my brother out of public school kindergarten when she realized that he would be getting a secular education. She began to homeschool with the idea that she would enroll him in a Christian private school after kindergarten. But the homeschooling stuck. She has so far graduated 9 of us from homeschool (the last two are still in high school).



My Mom has had her ups and downs devoting her entire life to raising children, but her work has paid off.

 

Amazingly enough, my siblings and I all actually enjoy each other and are very close, despite the fact that we all live in several different states. The passion my Mom had for Jesus and for life was contagious. It carried on to each one of us. Like Mom, each one of us felt called by God to our own "mission fields" and we're all growing in that work that God has called us to do.

 

I am blessed to be following in my Mom's footsteps. Like her, my mission field is my family. I now hope to do the same for my children that my Mom did for hers. She is leaving a legacy worthy of following. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I think that says a lot when trying to express how much I admire my Mom.

 

A mother's work is never truly recognized until her children are grown and begin to realize all their mom sacrificed on their behalf. Now that I'm a Mom I have an even greater appreciation for what my Mom chose to do with her life.

 

Mom, I love you. You are my inspiration and my hero.

 

Proverbs 31:28 "Her children arise up and call her blessed . . . "

 

Happy Mother's Day!