Remembering Mom...

This is the first anniversary of my mother's death. I've already had moments when tears threatened to roll down my cheeks and I've let them flow. She's been gone from this earth since Dec. 18, 2009 and I still have moments when I want to pick up the phone and call her. She loved talking to her kids and never was too busy to linger in conversation. She listened well and also shared the "news" of her life with all the details and usually with some bursts of laughter. She was a wonderful mother and I am grateful for all that she imparted to me.

There are five of us who share her DNA.
Her first child was my brother Jim.

















I came next nearly three years later.


















I was followed eighteen months later by my sister Kathleen.


















Next came my sister Barbara with only fifteen months between her and Kathy.



















And then we were complete when my sister Margelyn arrived three years after Barb's birth.










We all joined in June of 2009 to celebrate Mom's 90th birthday where we took these photos as we celebrated her long life. I would have some more special days with her as she declined in strength until the middle of December when she breathed the last of earthly air and began life in the presence of Jesus whom she had shared with me and so many others. The smile each family member received as we entered her room will never be forgotten. I am grateful for many things including the fact that she never forgot her own children nor our families.

Mom wasn't perfect but she loved her family and I'm grateful she was my mother. She held nothing back when loving and guiding us through life. I am blessed because she was my mother. I could not have chosen better.

Thanks, Mom, for sharing yourself and the Lord you loved and served with me so that I could spend a lifetime loving and serving Him also. I miss you but I know where you are and I can only imagine that you are "kicking up your heels" with Dad and having a blast!!! And hopefully the cows don't need milking every morning and evening to interrupt your fun times with family and friends!!!