[9/26/11] Monday Memories: Mom and Janine

My Mom and my sister, Janine, both have birthdays this week, and they are two of my most favorite people.

 Education Week 2008. Don't you love those braces?

My Mom is awesome! She has always been there for me. Some of the things I appreciate about my Mom are that she was home every day when I got home from school, she has a very strong testimony of the gospel, she has always supported me in everything I do, she is an amazing Grandma to my kids, and she taught me how to sew, crochet, and cross stitch. I still really like to do two of these things, the other one, not so much (sewing). Although I will do it if I need to.

My Mom has always been a great example of how we should serve others. I remember going with her when I was younger to visit other ladies in our ward;  some lived 45 minutes away.

I remember how much she helped me survive our move to Pocatello when I was in the ninth grade. There was one girl at my new school who treated me horribly and I'd come home from school in tears. My Mom would let me lay my head in her lap and she'd rub my head as I sobbed and told her what was happening at school.

I remember how hard it was for her to try and learn Spanish before she and my Dad left for their mission to Minnesota. She felt so inadequate but she went anyway. Even though she never quite mastered Spanish, she was able to touch the hearts of the people in her mission through simply loving them.

My sister is also an awesome person.

Education Week 2008

We weren't very close when we were younger because we are very different, which is A-okay. I liked dolls and Barbies and she almost got her black belt in karate. (One day some boys were bothering me and she flipped them over her back!) I liked to go shopping, she didn't. She liked outdoorsy-type stuff. Me, not so much. But now we're very close. We talk on the phone quite a bit and I love to go visit her and for her to come visit me. She's been a huge blessing since I went back to school at BYUI because she's a professor in the English department, and until recently, she also worked in the online department. She is also a very talented writer. She wrote the screenplay for the movie Charly and did an amazing job. She is a wonderful Mother, and is very patient.

Happy Birthday, Mom and Janine. :o)