why i love my family, part 3

Happy Birthday to my mother today.

Momma, I love you.

This past General Conference, M. Russell Ballard, one of the apostles, spoke on mothers and daughters. He said:

"My dear young women, with all my heart I urge you not to look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors. Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow. Model yourselves after them, not after celebrities whose standards are not the Lord’s standards and whose values may not reflect an eternal perspective. Look to your mother. Learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her. She may not be a whiz at texting; she may not even have a Facebook page. But when it comes to matters of the heart and the things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge....No other person on earth loves you in the same way or is willing to sacrifice as much to encourage you and help you find happiness—in this life and forever."

And think... my mom does have a Facebook page! How cool is that! But seriously, now that I am a mother, I know what it means to love someone so wholeheartedly, more than any other person on this Earth could love. It's amazing someone feels that way about me. Thanks mom.

So, on to the good stuff. You may remember this post from a couple years ago, so here are some more great things about my mom:

• I'm so grateful that when I was a baby, all those years ago, my mom listened to the Spirit in her heart and knew she should join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her decision has impacted my life more than she could ever know. My brothers served missions, and our testimonies are all so strong. Because Mom wanted to take her baby girl to a Church, so many lives have peace now. Thanks Mom.
  
  
• I love how involved in our lives my mom was. Even though I would feign embarrassment, it was fun when she was a Girl Scout co-leader or she taught my Sunday School class. Every once in awhile she'd chaperone a field trip or come to girls camp and that was exciting. We've made so many memories together, and I love it. Mom served on scout committees and band booster clubs and more and more, because she loved us.
  
  
• I loved that Mom read to us when we were younger. We'd go to the library and check out bags and bags of books. And we'd read them all. We'd check out some over and over and over again. Another one of my favorite things when we got older was that Mom would read novels by authors like Michael Crichton and Robin Cook, and when she was all done we kids would gather 'round and she'd tell us the whole story! It was awesome. Think medical dramas and Jurassic Park. I remember thinking to myself when I heard they were making a Jurassic Park movie, "my mom told me all about that story!"
  
  
• I love that Mom always supported our goofy ideas. Do you remember the golf course we wanted to build in the backyard? All the lego structures we left all over the house? The times we'd play "school" and I taught my little brothers? She 100% supported our creativity. We could do whatever we wanted to. I love that. I love that I feel like I was an active kid... no video games, no cable. I read and played and experienced. You better believe a lot of that had to do with the attitude of the Mom in the house.
  
  
• My mom is very meticulous. Every time we needed a check for something at school, Mom would put the check in the typewriter and type it out. It looked neater that way! She loves to type things up on the computer and print them out nicely. She wants to be proud of a job well done, and she can be. She does so many things so well. She's definitely helped me set a high standard for myself, and encouraged me to do my best.
  
  
• I loved that Mom stayed home with us kids when we were little, even though when we got older she needed to go back to work to help support the family (and all the bills we were no doubt racking up, with getting stitches and playing sports and eating all our food). I really loved that she worked close by, and my brothers and I sometimes during the summer would ride our bikes to her work during her lunch breaks and spend them with her. That was so fun.
  
  
• She made our Halloween costumes every year. We'd go to the fabric store and look through the books of patterns and hand-pick what we wanted. It was awesome. I was Dorothy, Tinkerbell, a Hershey Kiss, a bride -- all handmade by my mother. My brothers were pumpkins and clowns and Peter Pan. Mom, you totally rock. I need to learn to sew so I can make Halloween costumes.
  
  
• Speaking of my bride costume, I need to say I am so grateful to my mom (and dad) for going to the temple in 1986 and sealing us as a family. I still remember some of it. I needed to wear all white, so I wore my Halloween costume from the year earlier. My socks were too dirty so the temple gave me socks to borrow. I was young, but somehow I knew it was a special day. And it was. We're a family forever, thanks to Mom and Dad.
  
  
• On our birthdays, Mom would tell us our birthday story. Every year. I didn't mind :-) She'd make whatever we wanted for our birthday dinner -- I usually requested this chicken casserole with green beans and biscuits on top. Mom's specialty.
  
  
• I remember going Visiting Teaching with my mom. She was an awesome example of a good visiting teacher. We'd go to this one sister's house, and she had all these toys and us kids would play with them on the floor while they talked. To me, that was visiting teaching: playing with toys at this one lady's house. Mom must have visiting taught her for years, since it's all I remember! I try my best to be a good visiting teacher today.
  
  
• Whenever my brothers and I would argue, Mom would spontaneously start singing "Love at Home." It was funny. Sometimes it worked and we calmed down. Usually it just aggravated us.
  
  
• I love that my mom can laugh. As a family, we have quite a few "inside jokes," and the best thing is that Mom gets them all. When we all get together and start reciting them, she's laughing just as hard as the rest of us, and chiming in until we're all on the floor and crying from laughing. There are so many great stories.
  
  
• I really feel that my mom really loves us kids, and gets what it means to be a mom. How can I tell? She cries. She is so happy for us, the tears flow. And you know what? I do the same thing. I love my little Wesley so much that it makes me cry. Being a mother is an amazing experience, and I believe she took it seriously.
  
  
• Once we took a girls' trip to Hawaii. It was awesome. I had a blast with my mom, eating pineapple at breakfast, sitting by the pool, singing "Pearly Shells," and getting our pictures taken with hot Hawaiian luau dancers. Mom organized it all, and she just wanted to play with me. I was happy to oblige!
  
  
• I love what a sweet Grandma she is. I know she loves Wesley so much. She came to stay with me for a whole month after he was born and Shane went back to work. I was able to take showers because she'd hold him while he cried and neither she nor I! knew what to do. Thanks mom. Babies take a lot of energy and patience. I know it probably wasn't the most fun to be here when Wesley was at a pretty non-sociable age. But he's growing into a wonderful little boy and he has an amazing Grandma.
  
  
• Some characteristics I think I've gained from my mom: organizational skills. The tendency to assign sentimental value to things. A brain that sees the big picture -- yet doesn't forget the small stuff. The desire to please. The desire for peace. Optimism. The ability to smile. A love for arts and crafts and creativity (and love of "projects").
  
  
• Sometimes I tell my mom things I tell no one else. I know she loves me, she'll listen to me, she'll understand me. There are just stories about my life I want her to hear. Things I've done I want her to know about. Experiences I want her to share. There is no other relationship quite like that of a mother and a daughter. I've got such a great mom. Sometimes I really miss her and wish we lived so much closer.

Oh geez, I could go on all day.

I love you, momma. I hope your day is wonderful, and you don't have to bake your own cake! Happy Birthday.