I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day.
I cannot tell you how much your thoughts and prayers comforted me on that special day.
Thank you for your comments and emails…they are precious to me!
I got cards in the mail from my sweet sister-in-law, Sarah…
my good friend, Julie, and my Children’s Minister at church, Joyce, who have both lost their mothers…
Joe and Kim, sweet friends of ours…
my precious Aunt Lois,
my indispensable friend, Lori (she even made me my favorite muffins) :)
and my co-worker, Kathy, who also lost her Mom last year. She gave me a basket of beautiful flowers…the same ones my Mom planted by my front porch last year, the week before we found out she had cancer.
It meant so much to know so many were thinking of me on that day.
We all went to church with my dad, who attends my sister’s church. Her husband is the pastor.
Here are my sweet boys that morning…
We were all in church together…just as Mom would have wanted it…her husband, her children, her grandchildren.
As we stood to sing the first hymn, I felt the tears well up inside of me. I could hardly contain them.
Mom loved to sing.
Honestly, she wasn’t a very good singer. :)
But, oh how she loved to sing her praises to the Lord!
If she had been there, she would have been singing at the top of her lungs.
I could picture her peeping her head out, down the line of her family, to see me and give me a wink and a smile.
One of her favorite verses was,
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” III John 1:4
It is because of Mom, and God’s goodness, that each of her children live a life of FAITH.
Even Dad will admit.
It was her faithfulness…of taking us to church whenever the doors were open…of praying with us each night before bed…of reading to us from God’s word…of living such a Godly example in her own life for us to follow…
She left a legacy of faith behind her!
I praise God for my Godly Mother!
After church, we went to my sister’s house for lunch. We were also celebrating her son, Cory’s, graduation from Asbury University!
(Pictures from the day before)
He graduated Cum Laude with a degree in History and will be attending Law School this fall. We are so proud of you, Cory!!!!
Cyndi, Cory, Wayne (my BIL), Courtney (my niece), Chris (Courtney’s fiance), and Dad.
Later that afternoon, we went to Mom’s gravesite to plant some flowers.
Everyone got right to work…my husband and my boys…
My dad and sister…
My boys were so proud to be making Nana’s gravesite look beautiful…
Mom’s parents, my precious Nannie and Papa, are buried just about 50 yards from Mom’s gravesite.
Mom loved visiting this cemetery. She planted these same flowers on her parents’ gravesite too.
Mom’s tombstone is so beautiful, just like her. And it stands out among all the other tombstones surrounding it…just like her life always stood out among others around her.
This is the back of the headstone that faces the road.
This is the top of the front…
When we finished planting the flowers, we stood around Mom’s grave and talked about how wonderful she was…
How proud she would be of Cory’s graduation…
How much she loved her family…
How much she would have loved her flowers…
How much we miss her…
And we cried, and we hugged, and we shook our heads in disbelief.
But despite it all, it was a wonderful day. A wonderful day to be together as a family. A wonderful day to reflect upon the goodness of God.
A wonderful day to celebrate the life of a wonderful mother!
God bless you all!
Traci
