{ a tribute to mama bird }

Happy Mother's Day

"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue."

{ Provers 31:26 }

This is my mom & I at my wedding

Chances are if you have never been kissed on the cheek or hugged by my Mom then you probably have never met her.  I cannot think of a more LOVING person than my mom.

If you have met her you probably would also agree she's pretty much perfect.

I don't think I have EVER heard her say ONE bad thing about anyone, ever. 

She genuinely glows from the inside out with beauty.

She has a heart of gold and compassionately LOVES people.  (I think she rivals Mother Teresa with the way she loves any and all people, sharing Christ's love and always putting others first).  She finds beauty in everyone and I'm convinced that

Everything she touches turns into something pretty.

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies."

 { Proverbs 31:10 }

My mom & me, not sure how old I am here

She has impeccable taste and appreciation for anything feminine or glamorous. 

In fact she once said she were born in the wrong era - that she belonged in the 1940's in terms of dramatic and glamorous style.

Anything pink, with ruffles, flowers, lace, bows, pearls, rubies, diamonds, makes her happy.

She always exudes elegance, always acts like a lady, has impeccable taste, dresses to a 'T', and gets more beautiful the older she gets.

She loves old black and white movies, Audrey Hepburn movies & I love lucy.

She can fix anything, install anything, remodel anything, or plant anything.  She has a PINK toolkit to get the job done and a great green thumb.  She's Mr. [MRS.] fix it.

I've been told by many they think she's an angel.

I agree.

These are some darling childhood photos of my mom

She was born in Hollywood and when she was little she thought that meant she would automatically have the perfect life, and be famous :]  But what you might not know about my mom is that although she's practically perfect, she hasn't exactly had the perfect life.  Her dad passed away when she was only 14.  Her mom passed away when she was only 26, and only one short month after she had me, her fourth child.

This is my grandma (my mom's mom & me) right before she passed away

Her mom (my grandma) spent a couple years as a live in nanny for a Madame (essentially in a prostitution home), when she was a teenager. She was locked in a bedroom with a little girl right after dinner. It was the only place she knew to go. She was never a prostitute though, thank the Lord.

My mom never knew her grandma.  She was murdered in her sleep and they never caught the person.
My mom also lost her grandpa when she was in 6th grade, when he was only 56 from being an alcoholic.

She also had a brother that died a few hours after birth of spinal bifida 4 years before she was born. Her Dad and a deacon in his church built a coffin/box and dug his grave in frozen ground and buried him themselves. It was Christmas day, in the country, and no mortuary.

What's so amazing about my mom is that despite her difficult life, she is the farthest thing from bitter, hardened, or miserable.  She is SO full of life, love, and joy.  She is the best example of Christ's love for us, I can think of.

She has/had every excuse to feel sorry for herself, but she never complains.

She could have been some wild child that did not devote her life to the Lord.

But she didn't.

She got her first job at Keizer shoe repair after her Dad passed away, when she was 14.  She wanted to buy toiletries for her family to help out.  Then she started sewing for herself, her two sisters, her brother and Mom when she got her second job at Stretch and Sew when she was only 14.  She dreamed of

moving to New York someday and becoming a designer.

These are her sewing books she still has from when she worked at Stretch & Sew!

She's now teaching my sisters & I to sew. 

She's 16 here, a junior in high school

She also met my Dad when she was only 14.  My Dad was 19. Nowadays he'd be locked up! : ]  They started dating when she was 15.  My Dad was the 5th guy to ask her to marry her, but she wasn't allowed to date until 16.  They married when she was 17,  and my Dad had just turned 22.  She turned 18 a couple months later.  Her Mom had to go with them to sign their marriage licence application!

Here's her and my dad when they were younger : ]

This was in the Statesman Journal newspaper, a write up about their wedding. 

This is her on their wedding day.

She started modeling when she was 15, and won Keizer's first junior miss in 1974.

Here's after she won:

She had my oldest sister when she had just turned 20, then went on to have my other sister, brother, and me when she was 26.  Her and my Dad started a church when she was 25.  My dad is

still the pastor and my mom has devoted the past 37 years of her life to being a volunteer and servant for the Lord and for our church, not yielding a paycheck. 

She continued to model, even through her 4 pregnancies and afterwards.  She was on the cover of a magazine when she was 27:

She is the most amazing mom.  She taught all four of us kids to love Jesus.

She made us take sewing lessons when we were in middle school. (She is wise & knew it would be valuable someday!)

She bought all four of us UGGs one year for Christmas.

This was before they were wildly popular and we all returned them!

She taught us manners while on a family trip

She taught us to start shopping at thrift stores when we were in middle school to save money and to learn early that that's where the best deals are!

She has been to 22 different countries on missions trips and just traveling with my Dad.

She loves on everyone as if they're her own children and brings encouragement to everyone she meets.

She's now a grandma of 8 and this is perhaps her favorite role !

Here's my dad & her with all 8 grand kids (and my 8 nieces & nephews!):

She has done such a wonderful job raising and taking care of our family and now my sisters are wonderful Mom's to these little kids as well.  I look up to every single one of them

and I'm so proud of the way they are raising my sweet nieces & nephews.

From left to right: me, my mom, my oldest sister, my next oldest sister

From left: My older sister, me, my niece Claire, my oldest sister, & my mom.

There is no one I admire more than my mom.  I love her to pieces and consider her my best friend.  She is precious beyond words and I am so proud of her.  One day is not nearly enough to show her how much

I love, appreciate, and adore her.   

I pray that someday I can share the same wonderful relationship with my own daughter.  I remember when I was little asking my mom if I should "take notes on how to be a good mommy."

I knew at a young age that my mom was very special.

I wanted to make sure that I can also be a wonderful mom someday, just like my mom.

"Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:

Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."

{ Proverbs 31:28-29 }

You are the most precious gift from God.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

I love you!

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised."

{ Proverbs 31:30 }

xoxo,

baby bird

{my mom's nickname for me}