Miscellaneous, etc.: My Family #2: The Best Mom Ever!

Well, in a recent post I told you a little bit about my Dad; now it's my Mom's turn! I've also got 2 brothers and 2 sisters that I'm trying to talk into doing guest posts eventually. :)

My Mom is really something spectacular. Just watch her for a little while and you'll see what God intended wives and mothers to be like. She really loves the Lord and her family and works hard to serve with all her heart and strength. As a child and teen she was active outdoors and in church activities. At 17 she began working in a hospital as a nurse's aide and a surgical technician. A few years later she married Dad and had all five of us kids in about 7 years. That in itself should tell you what a brave woman she is!

Over the years Mom has worked outside the home and from the home in various ways (most recently she had a home business selling chocolate products) but her heart's desire is to be at home serving God, Dad and our church. Recently our family took a step of faith and ceased the chocolate business so that Mom could devote more time to helping Dad and working on church-related projects. It's extremely hard to encapsulate all of what Mom does - for example, she spends hours every week working on our monthly ladies' Bible study and helping Dad out with his projects. She's also got some really great creative talents. I've put together a small assortment of her various creative outlets and ministries. Hopefully this collection will show you just a little of her talent and creativity.

I'll start with the cards that she designs. She faithfully sends a birthday card to each member of the church on their special day, and every week she designs and mails really cute, fun or encouraging cards to a few of our shut-ins. Here are a few that I would put in the category of "Just Plain Cute!" (Or, dare I say it, "Cute as a Bug...")

Most of the cards contain a verse or encouraging thought on the inside. The one below says "Pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17).

Some of the cards are a little more involved than others:

The Indian in the middle is actually dangling on a string!

Some cards require intricate folding according to a pattern.

While Mom specializes in whimsical designs, she's not hard-pressed at all to turn out some really pretty things now and then:

Mom hosts an annual Ladies' Christmas Tea and an annual Spring Dinner - and she usually makes all the favors by hand (well, with a little help from the computer - but she does all the cutting, folding and touching up!). Here's a little purse that could hold candy or tea bags.

This was the invitation she sent out to all the ladies for our most recent Christmas tea. She cuts out all the irregularly shaped objects and assembles them! The bell can come off the invitation and be used as an ornament.

I apologize that this is sideways...this is a notebook that Mom decorated. These make great gifts - and the really nice thing is that no one is exactly the same.

This is from a few years ago - Mom made one of these for each of our place settings at Thanksgiving. Any wrinkles and dust are my fault - I've kept this for quite a while!

Below is an example of Mom's ingenuity - she designed an in-house mail system. Each of these bags has one of our names on it so we can drop each other a note or message now and then. The mini clothespins show you when you have something new in your bag.

Mom used to do a lot of watercolor painting, with a focus on old barns. She has a lot of really nice pieces, but I think this might be one of the only ones framed right now. If you saw my last post, the house that I painted was done with Mom's old palette and paints.

Okay, it was quite a while ago that Mom cross-stitched, but many of these pieces have been a part of our home for so long that it would be remiss to not mention them. This is the only one we have out right now, but it's a good example of the quality of Mom's work.

Finally, here's one of the more time-consuming projects she did in her continual effort to give her best in serving God - these were part of a ladies' event a few years ago. Each little piece of fabric had to be folded a certain way and a pin or two stuck through it into the styrofoam ball. She started these a long time ahead because she made a lot of them.