Today is my mom’s 60th birthday. I know, I know. She doesn’t look a day over 40. We are constantly mistaken for sisters, which is partially true.
We are sisters in Christ and I am honored to be a part of the legacy of faith carried down from her mom, as well.
This picture is of the three generations represented at the Equip Conference in Orlando, back in July. What an honor to share in that event together, but even more so, to honor that legacy of faith.
Thanks for your shining example of faith and here are 60 things I am grateful for or love about you, which I am sure will make you laugh and cry. #sorrynotsorry
(P.S. I recognize that dad gets credit for some of these as well, but it’s your birthday, so...)
1. Getting over the shock that y’all were expecting even though you weren’t done with school.
2. Eighteen hour back labor to deliver me.
3. Giving me the middle name Joy (not that I dislike Michelle).
4. Graduating from college with a baby at home.
5. Putting up with me not sleeping through the night until I was 11 months old.
6. Breaking me of my pacifier habit.
7. Conversing with me—especially since I started responding at 18 months.
8. Old school cloth diapers. (Not as opposed to disposable, but just yuck)
9. Teaching us to cook on your hip.
10. Sharing recipes.
11. Allowing me to call from the grocery store when I didn’t remember a recipe.
12. The memory of cutting my bangs with Scotch tape.
13. Jennifer, Kimberly, and Chrystal.
14. Taking care of us when we were sick—especially the tapioca pudding!
15. The green recliner chair (just don’t recline too much).
16. Birthday pancakes and strawberry birthday cake.
17. Allowing me to help inspire Chrystal Marie’s name selection.
18. Entrusting me with the care of my sisters when you and dad needed a break.
19. Teaching me that it wasn’t my responsibility to MAKE them do something, but simply to remind them.
20. The old station wagon.
21. Little House on the Prairie, Matlock, Price is Right, and old Disney movies when we were home sick.
22. The lengthy search for a family van (over a year, right?)
23. Pulling a surprise out from under the front seat during family trips in Seymour: Avery Island, Grand Canyon, Four Corners, DC, New York, Miami in December and the farm in July.
24. DBR (Daily Bible Reading) always being the first on your list in your Day Planner.
25. Summer Bible memory verses.
26. Getting me braces.
27. Working with the singles ministry at church.
28. Inviting people over for Sunday lunch and always trusting there would be enough food.
29. Making it perfectly normal and expected to share with many people of multiple ethnicities, languages, cultures, and backgrounds. (I assumed that was normal for everyone.)
30. Allowing me to introduce you to Princess Bride and insisting that dad watch it immediately upon arriving home.
31. Continuing to quote Princess Bride with us.
32. Laughing until you cry.
33. Helping me go to Harding for college.
34. Supporting me in my first campaign to Venezuela even though, as you put it, “I don’t want you to go because I know I will lose you.”
35. Allowing me to stay an extra three weeks to extend that first trip to Venezuela (summer 1996) because, in a way, you did lose me.
36. Realizing that I would never truly move back home again, but understanding through your own moves that “this world is not our home.”
37. How you mourned the van when y’all finally sold it after over 200,000 miles.
38. Supporting me as a Christian sister when I wanted to move to Bogota, Colombia, but screaming “no,” as my mom when I wanted to move there.
39. Three trips to Venezuela of three weeks each.
40. Sharing your luggage space when I moved to and from Venezuela.
41. Translating for you at a Ladies’ Retreat in Venezuela.
42. Adopting my friends as your own, even if you didn’t speak the same language.
43. Taking me to and from the airport.
44. Being shocked beyond speech when I surprised y’all for Thanksgiving... “My... My Michelle is here. My Michelle is here.”
45. Allowing me to call every time I went to the store, overwhelmed by the options, when I moved back from Venezuela.
46. Kidnapping me to your house when I was so sick in 2009.
47. Reading through all of the books and talking with other people to find out what foods I could and couldn’t, should and shouldn’t eat.
48. Making bird food, dog food, and eventually people food in the process.
49. Driving back and forth to Baton Rouge from Houston to check on me during the initial stages of the healing process.
50. Wanting to beat up Eric, but not doing it (and several other things related to that time in my life).
51. The trip to Denver after my surgery, to take care of me, knowing I would need it even though I didn’t know it.
52. Jumping up and down in joy when I decided to move to Searcy.
53. The ongoing “who owes who what” list from what we pick up for each other at the grocery store.
54. IRSM trips, even if it was a Spanish-only event: Nashville, Colorado Springs, Hot Springs Village, Abilene, Orlando, and that’s just off the top of my head.
55. Remaining faithful in your marriage for 40+ years.
56. Taking care of and supporting your parents, your in-laws, and other family.
57. Taking care of and supporting Christian family.
58. The Post-Its you like to hide with loving notes.
59. Your prayers.
60. Always supporting me, and the things that God has called me to do, especially and most recently through Iron Rose Sister Ministries.