Happy Birthday, Mama!

Today is my mom's 56th birthday. I thought I'd try to make her feel extra special today, so I decided to write some things I love about my mother. I think she deserves lots of birthday wishes, so I turned on my comments for her today.

~~She has and lives out a strong faith. She knows, I think as much as humanly possible, the power of prayer and uses it daily.

~~She is known by all who know her well as a saint. She takes care of every body's needs, wants/needs no praise or recognition, and works tirelessly for others. She is the most selfless person I've ever met.

~~She's the go-to nurse for so many people. She knows so much, because she has done a wide array of things during her long career in the nursing profession (from starting out as a Navy Nurse to ob to doing her job now, director of our hospital's home health care...and many things in between), and she is very smart, so everybody goes to her for advise. I can't tell you how many times people from church would come over to the house at night or on the weekends to get her to check something out that they were worried about. She also spends many hours every year giving flu shots to our church and people in the community, and she's known for not hurting (I can attest to that!).

~~She's understatedly classy and elegant, which is one of the many things that drew my dad to her initially. He came from the south , where girls were all made up all the time, and he was mesmerized by her natural beauty.

~~She truly loves her children-in-law like her own. This one is near and dear to my heart, because it brings me such joy knowing this. She doesn't just say it, but she lives it.

~~She's the fix-it queen. I don't know how she does it half the time, but if something is stained, breaks, etc., she figures out a way to fix it. I will bring over a badly stained shirt at night, and she'll have it fixed the next morning, good as new. If I have lost a little weight, she'll take in my pants perfectly. If I have a hopeless (to me) stain on my carpet, she'll fix it without me even asking. She's also known for this by her grandchildren. If they get something on their shirt they'll say, "Don't worry, Nana will fix it!"

~~She's been an incredible example of a wife and mother to Elizabeth and me. There is so much to say about this one, but I'll just leave it at that.

~~She created a childhood for my brother, sister, and me, that was as happy as could be. She worked hard to foster a close relationship between us as siblings, and it worked!

~~She was never interested in staking her claim on us and keeping us nearby. She gave us wings and made us believe we could do anything and go anywhere! Ironically, we're all living near each other now!

~~She is an incredibly loving, doting grandmother, and I love knowing already how blessed all her grandchildren will be to have her as their grandmother!

~~She is a great cook and provided us wonderful, healthy meals daily growing up.

~~She is fun to be around. She laughs a lot, is always positive, and is the best to talk to.

I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. Here are a few pictures throughout the years that I feel like truly capture her essence. Also, if you want to read what my sister wrote about her 2 years ago, I included the link. Mom's birthday post She has led a pretty interesting life, and Elizabeth did a good job writing about it. The saying "To know her is to love her" fits my mom perfectly. I have alway been so proud and feel blessed beyond measure to have her as my mother.