Happy Mother's Day!

My friend, Mindy, posted this quote on our Apron Girl's blog and I just loved it:

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."


— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

I am lucky enough to have TWO wonderful mother's, who not only give the kind of service that Sister Hinckley talked about, but they ALSO have expertly coiffed hair AND perfectly manicured fingernails :o)

I have a lot to live up to.

Today I want my Mom to know how thankful I am for her testimony of the gospel. I have spent a lot of time pondering what it is that my Mom "did right" in raising our family, and I truly believe that the most important thing she did for me, is to set the example of reading her scriptures and saying her personal prayers...every single day. Every morning, she would sit in her favorite chair and read her scriptures, and every night, she would lock herself in the bathroom (because it was the only place she could be alone), and pray.

Like the sons of Helaman, I can say "we do not doubt that our mother's knew it". When times were hard as a teenager, I always knew that my mom had an unwavering testimony, and she taught by example that turning to the Lord could help me through any trial.

Thank you, Mom, for your example. I hope that I can pass this legacy on, and that my children will someday be able to say, "we doubt not that our mother knew it".

I call my Mom nearly every day. I rarely have anything important to say, and our conversations are never long, but she is my friend, and I don't know what I'd do without her. Sometimes just hearing her voice makes the day go better.

One of the best parts of growing up and getting married, is to get ANOTHER mother. Today I want Linda to know how thankful I am for her example and friendship. One of the things that I admire most about her, is how interested she is (and has always been) in the lives of her kids' friends. They love her like they do their own mother! When we talk, she often asks about my friends, by name, and wants to know how they're doing. Her service is given daily, in just talking to people with a smile, and letting them know that they are loved.

I want to be like that. I want my kids to be able to bring their friends home and know that I care...and that I want them in our home.

Thank you, Linda, for your example. It will not come easily to me, but I hope that I can be a friend to my children's friends. Thank you for listening to me when you probably have better things to do. And thank you for raising such a wonderful son, who makes me happy, honors his priesthood, and respects me. I am thrilled to soon have four little boys, who can look up to their father's wonderful example. I will make sure they know the part that you played.