Mothers Day-A tribute to my Mommy

I really don’t like mothers day. Even though I am a mom myself now, it is still a reminder of the void in my life. Most days, I just live my life, never really pausing to notice that I am an old soul without a mother. I have lived nearly half of my life without her. But this year, I am pausing, not to feel sorry for myself like I usually do, but to
reflect on the wonderful Godly woman that my Mom was.

I know that she yelled sometimes, but I don’t really remember those times (and God knows I deserved to be yelled at sometimes). I remember her vacuuming at 7:30 am on a Saturday after letting us “sleep in”. I remember fabulous chocolate chip cookies and homecooked meals. It was my mom who discovered that potato chips and cookies taster better frozen. I have no idea why this is but try it and you will know what I am talking about. I loved snuggling with her in her bed every night. I think that this is when I would divulge my deepest darkest secrets, like who I was currently crushing on. One of my favorite memories is “ballroom dancing” around the house with her. She taught me to pay bills by letting me sit at the kitchen table with her and write out the checks for her to sign. She taught me how to plan a menu, save money, do laundry, clean a house, and manage a household. All of this by the time I was 15. I would like to think that it is just my amazing intelligence that helped me learn all of this but I know that it is because of a wonderful Godly woman, Janice Browning.

Other than the practical things, I learned through example how to love my own husband and children, and how to be a friend, how to have compassion for those who are hurting and to desire to pitch in a help people any way that I can. I pray that I can be half of the woman that she was. If I can do that, then I will feel like I have accomplished much. I have been privileged to hear stories from her friends over the years of the support and advice that my mom gave to them. She loved God’s Son, she believed in God’s love, and she believed in the power of God’s word. What an amazing woman. How lucky am I to have had her as a mother?

And I try to live every moment by her final words to us “Let everyone know, keep God centered in their lives.”