Late Thursday Thirteen - My Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. In honor of today, here are 13 things I love about her.

1. My mom is a great shopper! I especially appreciate this about her because I hate to shop. If it weren't for her, and her great shopping skills I don't know that I would have any nice clothes. My parents have never been rich, but my mom has always made a point to look nice, and to remind me that it is important to look good. 

2. My mom loves family! She was raised an only child, and couldn't wait to get married and have a big family. She plans fun family get-togethers and has taught all of us what a great blessing it is to have family. 

3. My mom values her friendships! She takes time to cultivate her friendships. She loves hanging on to the friends she has had for decades, and also making new ones along the way. 

4. My mom is a model of fitness! She religiously goes to the gym several mornings a week and has for years. She has also run several marathons. For years we worked out together at the same gym. She is the best workout buddy I have ever had. 

5. My mom is incredibly generous! She is generous in every way - with her time, her money, her resources, her skills. She loves thinking of others and brightening their day. 

6. My mom is a great grandma! If she is needed to babysit grandkids, she will drop everything she is doing to come help out. She loves spending time with, and spoiling her grandkids.

7. My mom is a wonderful homemaker! She made dinner every night while we were growing up. She started working full time in my early teens. A lot of times she had to work nights, but she always made sure we had dinner. Whether that meant putting something in the crock pot in the morning, or preparing an entire meal, and then leaving directions to tell us when to put it in the oven. She also has taught me the importance of having clean and orderly home. 

8. My mom has incredible faith! I have always seen her as a rock. She is unwavering in her faith, and practices what she believes. 

9. My mom loves to learn! She had just begun a master's degree when she found out she was pregnant with her first child. From that time on, she has put family first, and although she has not had the opportunity to return to school since then, she is continually taking classes in the community and learning new skills. She also has the habit of looking up words in a dictionary whenever she comes across one that she can't define exactly. Because of that she has a huge vocabulary.

10. My mom is compassionate! She is always thinking of others, and giving when she can. She has been caring for my aging grandpa for several years now. Although she has no siblings to help lighten the load she insures that he gets lots of visits and phone calls, she schedules doctor visits, takes him to appointments, cuts his hair, washes his clothes, cleans his apartment, takes him Coke occasionally, and many other things.

11. My mom is courageous! When she was about 40 she decided to seek out her birth parents who had placed her for adoption at birth. After finding out that her father had been killed in war before she was born, and that her mother, after being contacted, refused to have any contact with her, she had the courage to move forward and develop family relationships with her birth father's family. She also showed lots of courage last year when she was in an awful car accident. She was stuck in her car along time before they were able to cut her out, and then she had to endure a month stay in the hospital recovering, followed by many months of physical therapy, with several roadblocks along the way. 

12.  My mom is a great gardener! She loves flowers and over the years has created an amazingly beautiful flower garden. She also plants a large vegetable garden every spring and shares her fresh garden produce all summer and fall. 

13. My mom loves my dad! The older I get, and the longer I am married I realized what a huge blessing this is. I am grateful that my parents have always tried their best to have a happy, successful marriage, not only for their sakes, but also for the sake of the whole family. 

I love you mom and hope you have a wonderful birthday!