Happy Mother's Day

Me (5) & Mom

As I celebrate this Mother's Day I of course am thinking about my mom.  She passed away 10 years ago of complications from a very long-standing battle with MS.  Even though it's been so many years it is still hard to not have her here.  But today as my thoughts go to her I am happily recalling some things she taught me, not with words necessarily but with her life, actually, with her living, to be more specific.
She lived and loved and did it well.

So here are 3 {of the many} things my mom taught me:

1.  Love and cherish your family.  
Being around my mom I always felt loved.  I always felt important.  She spent time with us and actually enjoyed it...it showed and I felt it deeply.  It was the little things she did like making M&M cookies with me and my sister at Christmas {our favorite}.  Sewing dresses for us that matched with hers for special occasions.  Making "prairie hats" for us to sleep in at night, just like the ones Mary and Laura Ingalls had.  Playing all our favorite records and singing right along with us.  Praying for me when I was afraid in the night.  Stroking my back and my hair when I wasn't feeling well.  Mom also loved to create so she instilled a love for all things creative in me during the times of baking "Shrinky Dinks", crafting Christmas angels from clothespins, cupcake liners and cotton balls, and doing ceramics, and lots more.

2.  Create a welcoming home.  
Honestly when I think back on my childhood home before "the sickness" it was so peaceful, orderly and well decorated.  As a young stay-at-home mom of 2 little ones at the time and very little, if any, "extra" money, I don't know how she did it, but that's the way it was.  Mom loved to decorate and have things she loved around her.  She also used her strengths and a little ingenuity when it came to decorating.  She sewed, painted, did ceramics, crafted and used what she had to create a beautiful home.  But most of all the beauty in the home was truly her heart and it came through in every nook and cranny of that place.  Her stamp was on that house and people were drawn there because of her.  She always had an open door and a big smile for anyone who came by no matter the time, no matter the lack of notice.  She was an encourager and always had a positive word, hug, or contagious laugh for whatever the situation called for.  She created a safe, beautiful and loving place for us to call home and a respite for the many visitors who needed a little sunshine.

3.  You are not your circumstance.
My mom was diagnosed with MS at age 27.  At this time she was 8 years married and had 2 little girls and another one on the way.  This came as a heartbreaking shock as the disease moved very fast.  It seemed just a short time after the diagnosis that many of the things she did before the disease she could no longer do, until eventually she couldn't do anything at all for herself.  But she never stopped believing and seeing the good in things.  She never gave up on living.  She never lost faith or stopped trusting God.  Even though her body was weakened her spirit was strong.  She still had that smile, even when MS had taken her ability to speak she still communicated with that contagious smile.  She had an inner strength and was a true emanator of grace.  I honestly can say that I never heard her complain, and believe me she had every reason to.  In the days she was in health she lived life to the full.  She enjoyed what she had and used the gifts she was given to live the life she dreamed.  She loved being a wife, mother, homemaker, and creator of beautiful things.  She loved life and she had a light inside that never dimmed, even when MS took most all else, her light still shined.

My mom taught me to really cherish and encourage those I love, to spend time doing what I love, and to create a beautiful life.  To never waste a moment because they are so fleeting.


To live, loving this life. 


Thanks Mom!