Happy Mother's Day

• M is for the many hours spent praying for her children.
• O is for the open arms, always there to hold them.
• T is for the tears she cried, when one of us was sad,
• H is for the hurt she felt when one of us felt bad.
• E is for the endless love she gives to us each day,
• R is her renewing spirit that helps us choose or way 

                                               by Laura Brown 5-2011

When I reflect back throughout my life,I have so many wonderful memories that she has given us. Surprisingly enough, the little things even make me smile.

I remember:

• making cookies, cakes and candy.. always including us to help add stuff or stir the bowl ...we even got first choice to lick the spoon, bowl and beaters!!
•  putting  bread bags over our shoes(we didn't have boots) so we could go out and play in the new falling snow. 
• allowing us to go out and play in the rain and splash in the ponds of water that formed on the sides of the streets
• playing board game for hours with us...oh what fun!
• lining up coffee mugs on the table at Easter and dropping egg dye tablets into vinegar and letting us monitor our eggs until they reached the color we desired
• singing to us with her "Angelic" voice... I always wished I could sing like her. I loved listening to music and playing records and remember practicing to "shake" my voice like she could...all the practice never worked for me...but I do love to TRY to sing, HA!
• telling us stories, bible stories and reading books.  We were always on the edge of our seats waiting on the next words.
• sharing her tales of the fairies and telling us how to build houses for them so they would come and dance in them at night.  My brother and sister and I  used to collect green moss, broken bits of colored glass and match sticks to build beautiful dance floors and houses for them.  We would fall asleep seeing them dancing and twirling on the colored glass floors and walking through the soft green moss as we slept. We never saw one ,  but they were always in our dreams.

• going to the creek by Mars Hill in Florence, was a fun time for me. I was a BIG rock hound and loved looking for SPECIAL rocks.  She would walk along the banks and watch us wade looking for the perfect rock. I still love looking for special ones!!
• going to Granny Mae's house before Mother's day services at church and picking that special rose to wear on our dress in honor of our mothers.  This is such a touching memory, we all got little red rose buds, Mother picked a bloomed red one and Granny Mae chose a lovely white one...I learned that the white one meant your mother was no longer here with us. 
• sharing her faith and love of Jesus was always a part of our lives.  Her love of the Lord shined through in her talent for singing and from the deep love for Him in her heart. I saw that...I wanted that too...and because of her teaching and gentle leading...I gave my heart to Him, nearly 40 years ago.

There are soo many memories I have that I could list and they would go on and on.

In my Mother,I have been highly blessed and greatly favored by God to have been given the most wonderful gift a child can have. My mother is a mother to all that she meets...so many call her Mom! 

She is my mother, my confidant, and my best friend. Like my cousin Danny Richey said today in an email
"All the good things you see in me came from my Mother!"

Wishing my mother a blessed and beautiful Mothers Day!

 I Love You Mother!!!!