4 Special Ladies

Happy 60th Birthday to my Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who is forever young in heart and spirit!

I love you!!!!

In celebration of my Mom's birthday, the e-book version of my book, A Bond of Blessing: Insights from the book of Ruth for Mothers-in-law and Daughters-in-law is free today 10/8/12 at Amazon.com. 

I'm also sharing my annual post, 4 Special Ladies, that I like to publish on this day.  Enjoy (with a box of Kleenex)!

 Exodus 20:5-6:

for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,

punishing the children for the sin of the fathers

to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

but showing love to a thousand {generations}

of those who love me and keep my commandments.

I personally have had a lot more blessing in my life from my generations than negative.  I would like to share pieces of the story's of 4 incredible women in my family heritage.

Special Lady One: My Grandma Bernadine

My Grandma had sparkly eyes, a strong spirit and a happy smile. She always looked old to me with lots of wrinkles on her face and white hair. She was the best. As I've learned more about her story, I appreciate so much more who she was and how she showed us the reality of God's love in the way she lived her life.

Grandma had 6 children, which the last 2 were twins! That in itself is a lot, but she raised all of her children primarily on her own, as her first husband was abusive and divorced her when the children were young. My Grandma raised 6 children as a single mother and she worked as a teacher. During one period of her life she worked an hour away from home so her work days were a minimum of 10 hours a day, plus 6 children to take care of by herself. But my Grandma knew who her God was and she served Him all the days of her life. She couldn't sing a note in tune, but she was in her church choir and faithfully attended church. My Grandma was a prayer warrior and I know she prayed for each of us by name, and I know I am still receiving the blessings from her prayers.

To give you an idea of the strength of my Grandma, she died of lung cancer 2 and a half weeks after being diagnosed because she didn't go to the doctor for being sick. The only reason we found out she had cancer was because she visited us for Thanksgiving and when my mom heard the way she was breathing she took her to the doctor. I remember visiting her in the hospital a week and a half before she died and she wanted to prove to the doctor she was strong enough to go home. She literally jumped out of bed (at age 85, and only about 4 feet 10 inches) and was pushing on the doctors hand to show her strength. During that visit she talked about how she was teaching Hebrews to her Bible study and had been studying the Matthew Henry Concordance in preparation.  She plopped open the huge concordance on her bed! Finally, the last time I would see her concious, she sang to me: "He's still working on me, to make me what He wants me to be..." She was an amazing, strong Christian woman and I feel very humbled and blessed to have her in my family line.

Special Lady Number 2: Aunt Ethel
Aunt Ethel was my Grandma Bernadine's sister. She died at the ripe old age of 100 just days after her 100th birthday. She too was an incredible woman of God whose eyes shined of a daughter who knew who she was even after all she had been through. Now I can't find my fact sheet so I might be a little off on numbers  but my great-aunt had an incredibly hard life.

She was married on her 18th birthday because her father wouldn't let her get married a day before that and she didn't want to wait until a day after that! She had a beautiful first son and everything was fine. But after that tragedy began to strike. My great aunt was RH-negative before the doctors knew what RH-negative was. As a result, she subsequently lost 9 children shortly after childbirth. Only one of her other children, Jane survived but she was mentally handicapped. Aunt Ethel once told me how she tried drinking horse's urine during one of her pregnancies because she was told that would help her baby live. During her last pregnancy, they were starting to figure out RH-negative but the babies (twins) were not given the help they needed in time. My great aunt lived through the death of all those babies, and then Jane died of cancer in her 40's, then her husband died and finally she also endured the death of my Grandma (her baby sister by 11 years). However, you would never know she had been through all that if you met her.  Whenever I would see her, she would always have a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She lived many days on earth and lost so much but she lived with a confidence that was so evident that she knew who she belonged to and where she was going.

Special Lady Number 3: My Mom (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!):
My mom too went through a lot. She grew up in a broken home and had a mom that had to be gone more than present just to keep the family afloat. She married her high school sweetheart right out of high school and proceeded to have 3 children over the next 7 years. She was pregnant with me (the 3rd child) and going to law school when she received a call that my biological father had been killed in a motorcycle accident. This was on August 7, 1978 a month and a day before I was born. She too ended up being a single mom, having 3 kids and finishing law school. She has lost much during her life but she has also given much and loved much.

She is a wonderful Mom and an incredible Grandma.  As I watch my daughter grow, she reminds me more and more of my Mom.  I know her life hasn't always been easy but the grace and love of God has taught her how to love.  She is my mom and I know I can always call her for prayer support and she will pray. She grows more and more beautiful to me as each day goes by. I love you Mom. Happy Birthday!

Special Lady Number 4: My Cousin

And the history of my family line continues to unfold.  Even as I write, the reality of God and our ability to experience Him in the midst of real life, suffering, hardship, excitement and joy is being lived out in my cousin Amanda's life.

I originally wrote this post on 10/08/09 and literally while I was writing it, another story was unfolding in my family heritage. On this date (09), my sweet cousin Amanda was having a routine 20-week ultrasound. During that ultrasound she found out that her unborn daughter, Layla Rae, had Potter's syndrome and if she survived in the womb, her life outside of the womb would be extremely short. I heard the news hours after I originally wrote this post and I literally lost it (Layla Rae's diagnosis and birth date lined up month wise exactly with Nevaeh Rae's diagnosis and birth date; for me it felt like I was literally walking through the story again. Thank God for good friends, my friend Correna came and prayed with me for a couple hours that day). Over the past  three years I have watched my cousin walk humbly, honestly and confidently before the Lord. She has been a complete inspiration to my soul.

Layla Rae was born January 6, 2010 and lived a very short while being loved by her family:

The story continues on, my cousin is due this very month (October) with her precious second child.  She is anxiously counting the days left (17 days from today she is due).  We joyously await the coming of the newest one to our family line and we continue to rejoice at God's faithfulness and love to our entire family line, for generations to come:

My Cousin Amanda!

As, I look at my godly heritage I know that I am blessed.  Each of these incredible women, move me, inspire me and bring tears to my eyes.  I love and thank God for each one of them.
In Christ,