Happy Birthday, Mom!

It's Mom's birthday today - and here's a prayer for a Happy Birthday and Blessed year to come.

A lot has happened in the last year - just like every year - and Mom has moved with the twists and turns, ups and downs like a champ and as the great example and role model she has always been throughout my life.

Leaning on God's grace and mercy, she picked up the pieces after Dad's unexpected death last summer, and kept going with eyes firmly on her Father in heaven.

While taking care of the myriad details that required time and attention; she was the closest person to our son, Mark, as he completed his final year at Ball State University.  The two became closer during the last year - a blessing for her and a great blessing for Mark that produced a lifetime of memories.

Then, there was the sale of the house; a purchase of a new place; and move back home to Janesville.

In the three months or so since she returned - she's gotten reacquainted with familiar friends and re-engaged into the comings and goings at church like she had never been gone.

Through it all, her smile and determination have carried her.  I'm thankful that it's not far away to make a visit and check-in from time to time.

Mom is a volunteer who has served wherever she's been - an avocation picked up early in life as a young girl growing up in northwest Minnesota on a farm where she cooked, cleaned, and even worked the horses around the farm.

Whether volunteering at church or in the community, Mom and Dad gave hours and hours of time and devotion to help others.  Before my sister finally came along, I had seven other sisters, foster girls they took in to our home through the years of my early childhood.  It was a great example of compassion and love.

Time spent running Vacation Bible School, women's Bible Studies, or mission groups (to name only a few) was a quiet example to us of the importance to help others.  I recall the time she made new smocks for the local American Red Cross Chapter by the dozens, and her work with Wisconsin Right to Life and Lutherans for Life.

She hasn't slowed down much over time.  Thanks be to God for her life and the Christian testimony it is to me and so many.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

13 planted in the house of the Lord,
    they will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴ They will still bear fruit in old age,
    they will stay fresh and green,
¹⁵ proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;    he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”  

Psalm 92: 13-15