happy 60th birthday, mom

my mom is the woman. everybody thinks that their mom is, but really it's mine. sorry, you've been wrong your whole lives. but now you know.


nonnie and lucy with the cake


she has always shown us that loving Jesus is in your actions. its about living Him, denying yourself, and putting others before yourself. as a child i saw her give up excessive amounts of her time and money to people in need - children needing tutoring, families needing groceries, babysitting for single mothers, cleaning peoples houses when they couldn't help themselves, taking people dinners in hard times... i saw her on the phone with people for hours just listening to them tell her their stories. everyone wants to be heard in their dark hours. i saw her devoting time to things that no one would ever know to thank her for - working for years in the back kitchen for an inner city food ministry, giving countless rides to people so they could get to work or church. doing things that really mattered.

and the things that have been done just for her family are greater and more unfathomable. this is a lady that when i, her private Christian schooled daughter, told her that instead of going to college would travel with the Rainbow Family and/or follow my favorite bands around, taught me how to make hippy shirts so that i could sell them and have a way to eat. thankfully i decided against that route, but at least i would have been prepared. i could go on and on. like how she befriended my friends even when we were all unlovable and heading down wrong paths together. she didn't blame anybody for being a bad influence. she just prayed, spoke truth into our lives, trusted, and loved us anyway. i hope i can be like that. but i'm not sure. she has such a peace. well, usually. she also is known for sleepless nights over the menu for christmas dinner 2008.

my mom travels from charlotte every week to watch my children for me so that i can work. she has done this since olive was born.

she will not accept gas money, nor childcare money. and often times, against my wishes (because it strickens me with guilt), makes us dinner and cleans my house. i'm thankful for this beyond words for obvious reasons. but the main one is that i'm glad that my children have her example in their lives. some of this stuff is bound to rub off on them, right?
ok, enough. my mom is cringing somewhere i'm sure. she's not a compliment taker. but i had to put this out there. she would never let me get through acknowledging her verbally in her company.
this past weekend our family (my parents, sisters, brother in laws, and nephews and neice) all came here and celebrated her by just hanging out and being together. here are some pictures of the fun times. my parents also announced that they will be putting their home for sale in charlotte, and finally making the long awaited move to this area. pumped about this.

nonnie, pa, and ava ~~~~~~~~~the gorman-fancys~~~~~~~~~the herreras