Mom's

They multi-task.
The "TO DO" list goes on and on like the deposition for a whiplash injury with Norton Frickey and Associates.

The "what's for dinner" saga, laundry, house cleaning, doctors appointments, soccer, voice lessons, piano lessons, gymnastics, baseball practice, football practice, swimming lessons, bake sales, setting up garage sales, fund raisers, attending to the family grooming, hair cuts, bathing the children, cleaning up after the pets, taking the pets to the vet, feeding the pets, settling the disputes between siblings, counseling the broken heart, being there when one of the children injures themselves scraping a knee or worse yet breaking a bone, nursing the children back to health with colds and flu, homework, memory work...the constant teaching, teaching, teaching with children from when they are infants until Mother's close their eyes in a final sleep-going home to be with the Lord.

My little sisters suggestion is to set a timer for 15 minutes...and then ask yourself every 15 minutes if you're trusting God when battle fatigue sets in for Moms and the Code Red PMS hour (4:00 pm - 6:30 pm) greets you faithfully every day.  Remember, indecision is the key to flexibilty.

My Mother {Evelyn} even in her final hours teaching me courage...I can still see her soft blue eyes and remember her soft, soft hand as I was holding it in the hospital in her final days on this earth.  Mother had one tear roll down her cheek that I saw whilst in her hospital stay of 25 + days as a result of a broken hip and emergency surgery in January of 2001.  Every time I see the movie the Passion of the Christ the part where Christ is on the cross and this tear drops to the earth...that tear reminds me of the tear that rolled down Mother's cheek as she made her journey home from her labors in this life.

I think of her when I read this Bible passage.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

I think of my beloved Mother when I hear the hymn, All The Way My Savior Leads Me.

I think about Mom when I have a delicious cup of coffee and a morsel and her lovely gift of Christian hospitality and how she loved church coffee fellowship spurring one another on in the Christian faith.

I think about her sweet voice when she would sing and yodel, "I Wanna Be a Cowboys Sweetheart" and her life on the Outlaw Ranch as a young girl in South Dakota.
What was she like as a child, a young girl, a woman, a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother, an aunt, a Grandmother, a Great Grandmother?

I think about Mom when I am so tired at the end of a long day and I have worked really hard and know that sleep will come this night because I have worked as hard as I remember Mom working with eight children.  I remember her cheerful disposition in the face of adversity and her willingness to be flexible with those around her that were auditioning for Oscar winning performances of "Oscar the Grouch." Her ability to exercise the fruits of the Spirit as opposed to losing her temper, complaining or lashing out irrationally exemplifies the Christian faith.  She had such a tender soft spoken calm about her when situations were spiraling out of control that was an inspiration to us all. 

Mother, no matter what the crisis de jour...her mantra, "trust the Lord.  He will lead you.  Take it to the Lord in prayer."  This Mother's Day I thank God the Father for the creation of Mother's.  They are, fearfully and wonderfully made.  She's worthy of a Master's degree in Domestic Engineering.

Her favorite flower:  Lilacs
Color: Lavender
Cake:  Angel Food
Pie:  Lemon Meringue
Fish:  Lutefisk (not for the faint of heart)

Whilst spending our last moments with Mother, we’d brush her hair, read to her, feed her the best we could, make sure she was comfortable, pray with her, put cool cloths to her face and hands, help the nurses in any way we could with her needs, put pictures up that the grandchildren had drawn all the while she would slip in and out of consciousness not able to speak very well after the surgery…she suffered a stroke.  All eight of her children there with her at the hospital gathering around her like chicks with the mother hen and the thought of her slipping away unbearable.  I asked our oldest brother if I could get him something to eat and he said, “I can’t eat knowing she’s suffering.”  It was strange for me to see the boys struggle with Mother leaving us.  They grieved and mourned every bit as much as the sisters.  It seemed strange because they would always wrestle, be rough housing, putting each other in a headlock, and all that kind of brotherly chicanery that goes on endlessly being the strong manly type men they are and then in this moment agonizing with the onset of this grieving and mourning process all the while we knew of Mothers relationship with her loving Savior and yet the finality of seeing her on this plane was a tremendous sadness leaving you weak…for me, after her death it was like having a low grade fever and flu for what seemed like two years.  Oh the sorrow of letting go of those we care about deeply.  I know Mother is with the Lord.  I know she crossed the river Jordan.  Yet the thought of not seeing her eyes, hearing her lovely voice, holding her soft, soft hands…it tears at my heart even now.  She was a blessed woman.

What I really LOVED about Mom was her quiet nature.  She quietly served and supported her family.  She wasn’t haughty, loud or obnoxious.  She was a servant always cleaning, preparing meals, reading, sewing, mending, painting ever pursuing the mission of ministering to the needs of her family.  She was a good soldier.  Mother worked for the Federal government prior to her getting married and raising a family and she worked for the government after the older children moved away from home.  She would tell me, “Government employees are servants of the people, Sally.”
I think how amazing that in Mother’s work outside the home and within the home she was titled a “servant.”  And a humble servant she was, a good and faithful servant to the Lord, to her family and to her employer.

With her at the hospital, my thoughts traveled back to so many times with her…the garage sales, auctions, managing her properties, our wonderful phone calls each week and when she was here in town we visited every day or every other day by phone, dinner plans, birthdays, Christmas, family reunions, church, picnics, the birth of the grandchildren and her babysitting, her hospital visits…all the times spent together playing like a film or reruns on television, all flashing through my mind.  When visiting Mother and at the departure from her home when we visited for vacations and special events she would stand on the porch of her Victorian home in Custer, South Dakota where she served every relative that came a visitin coffee, she would wave goodbye until your car was completely out of site.


Mom-she lived for family get-togethers.  What a sweet gal.  I loved her dearly.  What a blessing she was to me.  What a blessing she is to me daily by her parenting me in my life. My little nephew would say, “Grandma? Her is a nice Grandma.

  ”Proverbs 31:28a  Her children rise up and call her blessed;  

Something I might suggest as a gift idea for Mom's on Mother's Day...I like perennial flowers.  It is living and a gift that keeps on giving in a nice way not like the cold and flu season gift that keeps on giving.  This year I purchased two Verbena (dark purple flower) and 2 poppy (bright orange) flowering plants in loving memory of my Mother and Mike's Mom.  I planted them in the front yard.  The Verbena is a lower ground cover flowering plant and the poppy are taller-I think they will compliment each other very well and remind me of Mother's cheerful disposition.  Each year celebrating Mother's Day I am going to add another flowering perennial plant indigenous to our area.


8-13-08
Something kind of cool that I have been witnessing with my daughter and her growing family...from a tender age (about 16 months old) with our granddaughter our son-in-law would say to her,"use kind words when you talk to Mommy."  I asked my daughter if she learned that from the books she reads about raising a family or from parenting classes at church because she has read Baby Wise and Raising Kids God's Way (both of which I would bankrupt the English language endorsing) .  She said no, that her husband, our son-in-law, will tell our granddaughter use kind words when talking to Mommy.  It works. Moms, how lovely is that to hear???