Happy Birthday, Mom!

(This should have been posted on Sunday, but didn't happen. Sorry, MOM!)
Sunday was my mom's birthday. The kids and I went up to visit her and dad Friday-Saturday. We took with us a little (I do mean little) cake, some flowers, and some flower bulbs for her to plant. The kids had fun making a special card for Kay-Mom. We fancied it up with yarn, sequins, glitzy pipe cleaners, buttons, colored markers, and yarn puff ball things. We even glued a sponge dinosaur on there! It turned out quite cute I must say.
My mom has turned out to be one of my dearest friends as I've gotten older. We were always close, even when I was a teenager. I don't think I ever "hated" my mom like many girls do. We always seemed to agree or at least understand each other on most things. She was a good mom and tried to teach me many things that I frankly just didn't care to learn. Now I'm regretting that! I didn't pay attention to house cleaning, sewing, and other wifely things like that. Those were all things I could deal with later. Well, now is later and I'm reaping what I've sowed...nothing! So I'm constantly calling mom asking how to get a stain out of the carpet, how to make white cream gravy, or something like that.
But, I did learn from mom how to listen to both sides of a story and make a decision. I did learn to think of other people and how my actions/words might make them feel. I did learn how to color maps and make them look really cool. I did learn to edit my own papers. I did learn that family is important and family dinners are a must. There are so many lessons mom taught me that I'm just not thinking about right now.
And, she's still teaching me. When I'm trying to make a big decision, I usually chat with mom at some point about it. I call mom when I need to bounce ideas off someone. I call mom when I'm just flat out bored or driving and all three kids are asleep and I need someone to chat with. I call her just to call her and see what's up out there at the lake. I call her because I love her and want to hear her voice.
I remember an instant that made me miss my mom so much. I spent a spring semester of college doing mission work in Estonia. My partner and I didn't seem to get along very well. I kept thinking that God was crazy for sending me all the way to Estonia with someone whom I couldn't seem to mesh with. This had never happened to me before. I usually got along with everyone. I remember missing home and my parents so much. One day I was riding a tram across town to our apartment without my partner. I was standing holding on to a rail and I looked down at this nice lady sitting in the chair close to me. And I saw her hands. They looked just like my mom's hands. My eyes teared up. When I was little, I would play with my mom's hands during church. I came up with counting games with her fingers, and I'd play with her fingernails-which drove her crazy. When I saw this lady's hands I just started crying. I would have loved to have held my mom's hands and felt their warmth and love at that time in my life. I was so alone and sad and so far away from home. But my loving Father God used an Estonian woman's hands to let me remember my mom and what awaited for me in the states. It brought me great comfort that day.
Well, mom, Happy Birthday. I love you dearly and am so thankful the Lord let me be your daughter. I'm also thankful for the great many years he's let you be on this earth. (hee-hee!) I hope you've had a blessed day. I love you!