With Mother’s Day fast approaching, I’ve been thinking a lot about my mom and how my life has been affected by her.
She was raised in a Methodist home and was a farm girl. She taught school for three years in the same school as my Dad’s sister, Patty.
Patty wasted no time in telling my dad about this great girl she worked with that he should really meet. They met, but time passed and Mom went to teach in Taiwan for a year before anything happened. She came back, and finally Dad asked her out on a date.
On their first date, they were going to have dinner at her house. He was driving a small car, made a wrong turn and got stuck in the neighbor’s muddy farm lane. He managed to pry his car out with a log only to find Mom’s folks driveway in even worse condition due to oil well traffic. Mom came roaring to the rescue in a big truck, and once they had gotten safely back to the house, proceeded to serve an elegant dinner on rose china. Tough but feminine. My dad was impressed to say the least.
They got married when she was 27 years old and then had seven children. During the first part of their marriage, they left Mom’s Methodist church and began following the biblical principles of the head covering and modesty.
After attending a Beachy Mennonite church for seven years, my parents helped start an unaffiliated conservative church.
My dad is a dreamer and always looking for mountains to conquer. Our family helped start a camp for troubled boys in 2009 and my parents have been working there ever since.
My mom is a great example of submission. She is not a doormat, and my dad listens to her opinions, but in the end she gives him the final say – the freedom to take all the opinions and variables and make the best decision for our family.
This has been very key in my own marriage. I do not have a naturally submissive personality, but because of my mom’s excellent example, submission isn’t usually a struggle for me.
Another thing I am so grateful to my Mom for, is teaching me how to cook. She doesn’t enjoy cooking at all and didn’t learn until she was married. Especially during the time they were at the Beachy church, she must have felt dreadfully behind everyone else.
But she persevered and learned to make bread, pizza crust, biscuits, etc from scratch and learned how to can the produce from the garden. More than that, she taught the skills to her girls, determined that they wouldn’t start off marriage without knowing how to cook.
She often had the Bible on tape playing while she worked, or scripture songs. I memorized a lot of Bible verses because of that.
They say you don’t really appreciate your parents until you are a parent yourself, and it’s true! My mom’s influence and training have been major guidances in my life, and now that I am a mom myself I can see how sacrificial and giving she was.
I honestly wouldn’t have the marriage or the mom skills I do today if not for her example and teaching.
I know I don’t say it nearly often enough, but thank you, Mom!
Your mom is a sweetheart!