My Mom's Birthday

The Four Sisters Farm family gathered to honor my mom the night before her birthday...she is shown here with 10 of our grandchildren (the three babies were with their mommies)...she and Dad have 19 great-grandchildren now (number 20 is due this fall via a sweet niece of mine).  I won't divulge the number of birthdays my mom has celebrated because you would never guess how old she is by looking (good genetics is the only explanation I have)...but I have to tell you how grateful I am for her.

I am grateful that God gave her to me as my mother. I am grateful that she is still here on this earth.  She is one of the most positive thinkers I have known in my life and she raised her children to look for the good in people and things.  "Every cloud has a silver lining!" "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all!"   "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!" (I am still trying to figure out why I would want to catch flies but you get the idea.

You see, my mom has been ill since her childhood.  She has a condition called bronchiectasis which was finally diagnosed after years of suffering from serious "colds" and fatigue among other things.  When I was small, she underwent two separate surgeries to remove 2/3 of one lung and 1/3 of the other.  As I grew up, the only tell-tale signs of her illness were the wide scars on her back and a distinctive cough.  As time and each respiratory infection she battles take their toll on her, she relies more on medication and breathing treatments.  It won't get better.  It will get worse.

From what I know, she never gave way to fear and didn't feel sorry for herself.  She just took the lemons life had handed her and made lemonade.  She refuses to be a victim.  The prognosis given to her after her surgeries was that she probably would be fortunate to live to be forty years old.

I told you I wouldn't tell you her age but I will tell you that she still has my dad (you know that I am over 50, right?).  She has five children, 12 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren (with another one due soon) and is enjoying life.  She retired several years ago and is loving the time she has now to spend with Dad, to quilt, and participate in Bible studies and community events.  She is a rock.  She is often the voice of reason that resounds in my head.  She is a magnificent role model for me, my siblings, my children and grandchildren, and so many others.

I love her so much.  I hope she celebrates a whole bunch more birthdays.  I thank God for my Mom, today and always.

The Old Homestead

I am incredibly blessed to have both my mom and my dad still with us...pictured here with Pretty Princess and Romeo. They are in good health and I'm thankful they shared their hardy genetic makeup with their children, grandchildren, great grandkids, etc.

Earlier this month I was blessed to go to my childhood home for a reunion of sorts...only one brother and his wife were missing. Some of the next generation were there as well which added to the blessing. Pretty Princess, Romeo, The Unconventional Doctor's Wife, and The Unconventional Kids were all there!

There are many families who fuss and fight and refuse to be together and I count my blessings regularly! An extra treat was to have a special first cousin and her hubby there as well. Since her dad (my dad's brother) died some years ago, I hope we were able to give her a sense of connection to her Dad’s family while she was with us.

I am so thankful that Dad and Mom partnered to provide their family (and many others) with a stable and loving home. I know that doing so meant sacrifices on their part; but it has blessed so many. As Pop and I work on our “dream” here at Four Sisters Farm, our parents are the model we base many things on. We see the value of a homestead for our family and know that God gave us a home base with our parents in our old home town; and because of that, we had the luxury of moving our family to accomplish many goals and still have a model for our daughters of the value of putting down roots.

Ultimately, our roots are in our relationship with God…without Him there would be no good reason to place a high priority on family. Once again, I count my blessings.

It’s good stuff to have my children and grandchildren play in the same places I played as a child. It is awesome to watch them climb the same old cottonwood tree that their Great Uncle caught on fire with his "tree house fireplace" and their Great Aunt breaking her arm in that very creek bed and about my part in that. It is fun to retell the stories once again.

I loved being able to watch my niece pull out the yard games and play with the kids like we used to do with her and her cousins when we all gathered there.

I thank God for my Dad and Mom and for so many blessings that I lose count. It seems like we all say that we don’t often enough say “I love you.” Or “Thank you.” And I suppose that is true; but I try to make certain that they hear it from me often enough to have it echo in their minds and hearts when they think about me and about my family. I thank them on behalf of my family and our extended family who long for what they have created there with God as their foundation and love as their motivation.