My mother is a witch!

I mean that in the most loving way possible. I wish I had a copy of the picture of my Mom, from many moons ago. The one where she is wearing her witches hat, sitting atop her broom. Really, she is a witch. You see, my mom was born on Halloween. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Truly, my Mom is the furthest thing from being a witch. She is a great example to me with her strong faith. Faced with great challenges, she has shown great strength and resiliency. I think it speaks volumes about her that each of her four children are active in the church and have all been sealed in the temple. She can also add two return missionary children to her list of accomplishments. Through it all she is far too humble to take credit for how we have turned out.

When I was 15 my parents divorced. My Mom became a single mom while my Dad moved to a different state, started a new life and had little to do with us for the next 10 years. (In his defense, this had much to do with the actual witch that he married and later divorced. She disliked us and the feeling was mutual.) As you can imagine this was devastating to all of us. My Mom has become much stronger through it all.

Thanks Mom for being so great! Thanks for always holding my hair when I threw up in the toilet. Thanks for 'sleeping with your eyes open' and calming my night time fears. Thanks for being patient with me when I was a bratty, moody, hormonal teenager. Thanks for being willing to ride the bus to work so that Tom and I could take the car to school. Thanks for not kicking my butt when I did some of the dumb things I did as a teenager. Thanks for being understanding when I wrecked the car, as well as the other car I hit. Ooops. Thanks for being there for me even though you sometimes had to watch and wait and wait some more for me to finally learn from my choices. Thanks for supporting me in my choice to serve a mission and all that came with that. Thank you for loving my husband and my children and being a terrific grandma. Thanks for teaching me, by your example, how to be a good mother. Thanks for teaching me to cook, to clean, to do laundry, to kiss booboos and to love my children unconditionally. Thanks for not making me feel guilty about moving and taking your grandchildren 12 hours away. Thank you for always reminding me that we are where we need to be, even if that means we don't see you as often as you would like. Thanks for always welcoming us into your home when we come to visit.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the best, and as my kids put it:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

No one could have a better Mom than you.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

I love you!

Christmas 2006 - My Mom making gingerbread houses with the grand kids