HaPpY bIrThDaY MoM!

Yesterday was my Mom’s Birthday.  She turned 78 years old!!  I don’t very often think of my Mom as a little girl, but she was once!  As well as a teenager and young wife and new Mom!  

I think this is kind of cute…. a couple different times when she was asked how old she was going to be, she lowered her voice as if she were keeping a big secret and slowly answered, “78”.  Then added in a bit of disbelief, “that’s pretty close to 80”!  It certainly is!

          

I think the top picture looks like my sister Robin and the bottom one like my sister JoEllen!

Here’s my Mom years ago when she and Dad were still farming.  Those baskets are full of eggs.  I do not really have any “farm” memories as my folks moved to Colorado when I was three. So I always love hearing stories about  life on the farm.  Many times I heard  how my Mom married my Dad and moved to the farm, not really knowing how to cook.  She then had to prepare big meals to feed him and at times the extra help!  (My Dad used to eat five eggs for breakfast)!!

Mom and Dad have lived through a lot of tough things.  Both my parents were growing up during the Great Depression years.  My Mom lost both of her parents before she graduated high school.  She also had a brain tumor as a teen.

One experience my Mom had as a teenager has effected my life greatly.  Her friend Darlene invited her to a Youth for Christ Rally with Billy Graham in Des Moines, IA.  When the invitation was given at the end of the rally, it was really a challenge for youth to surrender their lives for the mission field.  But my Mom said she just followed her friend and was taken to a separate room for some counseling.  When the counselor came in she asked if there was anyone in that room who had never asked Jesus to be their Savior.  That was my Mom.   So someone took her aside and showed her from the Bible how she could know for sure that her sins were forgiven and introduced her to a personal relationship with  Jesus. 

I know that because my Mom (and later my Dad also) trusted Christ as their Savior, my life has been very blessed!  My Mom had six children and also worked full time.  I know she fretted because the house was never as “clean” as she liked or because things never seemed to be as organized or run as smooth as she liked.  But what I remember is we ate together as a family…breakfast and supper.  We went to church as a family, faithfully, where my Mom taught Sunday School.  She also had JOY club in our home and one of my playmates was saved as a result.  My Mom sewed almost all of our dresses for church and special occasions.  And many of my other outfits as well.  My Mom has always helped others. My Mom has and still is a prayer warrior. I can remember walking into the bedroom unexpectedly and finding her and on her knees.  It was also my Mom who introduced me to Bible Study Fellowship!  What a blessing her 78 years of life has been!

   

Its become a kind of tradition that Robin, Mom and I get together to celebrate our Birthdays by going to lunch or tea.  Robin and Mom both have October Birthdays.  Last year we got started going to breakfast together at the Original Pancake House.  And we also started letting Dad tag along with us!  I guess this is a tradition too; Robin likes to bring a party hat or crown for the Birthday girl.  This year Mom got a lovely flowered headband!

^{Not the best picture of Robin and I, there was too much light behind us.  We meant to take another one later on but forgot.}

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

II Corinthians 4:16-18