From my earliest recollections I've had people tell me, "You look just
like your mother!" I take this as a compliment, but in addition to
physical similarities I hope and pray that I can be more like Mom was.
I'd like to share with you some of the attibutes of Mom that I loved
so dearly and made her the special person she was.
No one ever doubted that her heart, mind and soul belonged to God. She
was unwavering in her devotion and commitment to Him. Truly her life
verse...."For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..." was exactly
that.
Wherever it was that God led her, she followed in obedience and with
JOY. Many people would say that her service to God in Papua New
Guinea was one of tremendous sacrifice. Not in her book! As she said
to us, her children, many times, "Following Jesus will take you to the
happiest place you can be." Never once did I hear her complain. We
may have been without many conveniences, but she always made do with
whatever we had or improvised in creative ways so that the differences
didn't matter so much.
I loved her ability to write and verbally illustrate her thoughts and
musings. For instance, I want to read a portion of a letter she sent
to all her children in 2001 after informing us of their death and
burial plans, a topic that is sometimes difficult, but necessary. It
went like this: "I don't have any premonition that death is near. In
fact I'm afraid I'm going to live until 2026, which will make me 100
years old. Sigh! I am doing nothing to prolong life. Not even doing
water aerobics any more or taking vitamins. No medication at all!
Oh, I am bike riding about two miles a day but that's just to kepp me
from getting stiff legged! Worse than age though, it's weight. If I
gain a pound a year, by that time I will have gained 25 more pounds.
Shriek! i do want to get in through the Pearly Gates! Love and
laughter from your mother, who else would act like this in such
serious moments? Love, Mom".
Her colorful and animated descriptions have given us a picture of her
heart for God, her devotion to Dad, her delight in her children and
her burden for the souls of the people of PNG. I'll miss her short
and sweet emails that were always signed "Mom tasol", which in Pidgin
English means, "Just Mom."
She found such delight and pleasure in simple things. She would go
into raptures over the morning gardenia picked by Dad for the dining
room table, Dad's blue eyes, a warm fireplace on a cold night, the
song of a bird, a call from one of her children. Whenever one of us
telephoned, she made us feel like she had been waiting by the phone
with bated breath, "just thinking of you", or "I KNEW it was you!"
This seemed to be the highlight of her day, and if she was busy, she
never let on, and for those few moments nothing else mattered....
I loved her laughter and her giggles. Laughter is an external
expression of joy, which can be heard around the room. A giggle,
however, reflects something more personal, a special secret of message
between one person to another, a funny little joke, meant for just the
two of you. She had a habit of this, sometimes in church, too! I
loved seeing her giggle with her grandchildren. Sometimes her giggles
were in reponse to her imagination and sometimes for pure excitement,
but any case her laughter and giggles infected us all. Our home was a
happy one and she was certainly the reason for it.
Mom forgave freely and lovingly. She was never easily offended. She
kept no record of wrongs. I want to be like that.
She was a champion for our hopes and dreams. Always encouraging, she
prayed for us, supported us, cheered for us, and most of all
admonished us to follow God in our dreams.
For these reasons and countless more, I am truly grateful and blessed
to have had such a remarkable mother, a truly priceless and precious
gift. I pray I can be the same reflection of a loving and tender
heavenly Father to the people God places in my life, as you, Mom, were
to me.
like your mother!" I take this as a compliment, but in addition to
physical similarities I hope and pray that I can be more like Mom was.
I'd like to share with you some of the attibutes of Mom that I loved
so dearly and made her the special person she was.
No one ever doubted that her heart, mind and soul belonged to God. She
was unwavering in her devotion and commitment to Him. Truly her life
verse...."For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..." was exactly
that.
Wherever it was that God led her, she followed in obedience and with
JOY. Many people would say that her service to God in Papua New
Guinea was one of tremendous sacrifice. Not in her book! As she said
to us, her children, many times, "Following Jesus will take you to the
happiest place you can be." Never once did I hear her complain. We
may have been without many conveniences, but she always made do with
whatever we had or improvised in creative ways so that the differences
didn't matter so much.
I loved her ability to write and verbally illustrate her thoughts and
musings. For instance, I want to read a portion of a letter she sent
to all her children in 2001 after informing us of their death and
burial plans, a topic that is sometimes difficult, but necessary. It
went like this: "I don't have any premonition that death is near. In
fact I'm afraid I'm going to live until 2026, which will make me 100
years old. Sigh! I am doing nothing to prolong life. Not even doing
water aerobics any more or taking vitamins. No medication at all!
Oh, I am bike riding about two miles a day but that's just to kepp me
from getting stiff legged! Worse than age though, it's weight. If I
gain a pound a year, by that time I will have gained 25 more pounds.
Shriek! i do want to get in through the Pearly Gates! Love and
laughter from your mother, who else would act like this in such
serious moments? Love, Mom".
Her colorful and animated descriptions have given us a picture of her
heart for God, her devotion to Dad, her delight in her children and
her burden for the souls of the people of PNG. I'll miss her short
and sweet emails that were always signed "Mom tasol", which in Pidgin
English means, "Just Mom."
She found such delight and pleasure in simple things. She would go
into raptures over the morning gardenia picked by Dad for the dining
room table, Dad's blue eyes, a warm fireplace on a cold night, the
song of a bird, a call from one of her children. Whenever one of us
telephoned, she made us feel like she had been waiting by the phone
with bated breath, "just thinking of you", or "I KNEW it was you!"
This seemed to be the highlight of her day, and if she was busy, she
never let on, and for those few moments nothing else mattered....
I loved her laughter and her giggles. Laughter is an external
expression of joy, which can be heard around the room. A giggle,
however, reflects something more personal, a special secret of message
between one person to another, a funny little joke, meant for just the
two of you. She had a habit of this, sometimes in church, too! I
loved seeing her giggle with her grandchildren. Sometimes her giggles
were in reponse to her imagination and sometimes for pure excitement,
but any case her laughter and giggles infected us all. Our home was a
happy one and she was certainly the reason for it.
Mom forgave freely and lovingly. She was never easily offended. She
kept no record of wrongs. I want to be like that.
She was a champion for our hopes and dreams. Always encouraging, she
prayed for us, supported us, cheered for us, and most of all
admonished us to follow God in our dreams.
For these reasons and countless more, I am truly grateful and blessed
to have had such a remarkable mother, a truly priceless and precious
gift. I pray I can be the same reflection of a loving and tender
heavenly Father to the people God places in my life, as you, Mom, were
to me.
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