Happy Mothers Day

Someone who I have certainly unappreciated over the years is my very own mother. We have had our ups and downs however it seems the downs have blinded me a great deal over the years to all the good she has done for me but also throughout her entire life.

This past weekend I got to road trip with her to Toronto. We've done this before and it's always enjoyable but as we passed buildings that were familiar to her she started telling stories of her childhood. Fond memories of her siblings, parents, places where she grew up. I saw how happy she was telling me all about these memories so I literally grilled her for half the trip home on anything and everything. I told her "I need to start writing these things down" with the hope of writing something about her to honour her in the things she has done over the course of almost 60 years of life.

My mother has always given it her all. In everything that she has done. That is what was so fascinating to me as I heard all about her life. One of my favourites was a story she told about when she was about 14 years old. She had borrowed her uncles bike to enter a huge bike race. 33 miles I believe. She was the only female to enter the race. That didn't stop her. She didn't care that she was the only girl among men. She finished dead last....but she completed it. What courage.

Her dad bought each one of the kids a ticket for a draw once, to win a big kid bike. 28 inch wheels. SHE WON! She ran back to the park in her baby doll PJ's to collect her prize. Didn't even take the time to change before racing out to claim her prize.

Age 18 she entered a crocheted afcan into the huge fair in Toronto. "The little old ladies got ousted by a young whipper snapper!" She said. This was her first crochet project!

When she was a kid she and her sister Kathy collected the bread wrappers off the toast master bread. They didn't just collect 10 wrappers that they could have used to purchase a small gift. No! They collected for an entire year and won themselves a box of cinnamon buns. She got to eat one for dinner.

She competed in fiddle competitions into adulthood, many times claiming the prize and even competed in the North American Fiddle Championships. Once she won 2 rolls of wall paper. Now that's not a prize you see being given out anymore. Her dad wallpapered the stair way with it. :)

My mom worked in nursing homes as a profession for most of her pre child adulthood. She put everything into it! She came up with a program that was soon being recognized in all sorts of districts to help non moving residents gain more movement. She'd travel around teaching this to nursing home staff. She wanted the best for the residents she worked for.

She has been part of the Kiwanis groups fundraising for cystic fibrosis.

My mom is an avid quilt maker. So much that she has had dozens of quilts ready at the asking to give away to different charities. She has guessed she has given away over 42 quilts. Do you know how long it takes to make a quilt? Not to mention the countless quilts as gifts she has made. We alone as a family have received 6 or 7 quilts from her.

My mom used to work as a travel agent. Like I told you before, she put EVERYTHING into what she did. She has been rewarded throughout her life because of this. She saw many rewards through being, at times, in the top 30 agents in North America, that she has traveled all over the world. She named at least 30 countries she has been to on account of winning trip because of her hard work and earning them.

She has done countless amount of hours raising money for women's shelters in this area and across Canada. Just last year she raised, single handedly, $7200 for Nelson House. People sometimes ask me "is your mom retired?" The answer is always a long "NOOOhohohoooo". I'm not sure she will ever be retired. Even if she's done work she will always be doing the good work of the Lord.

The last thing we talked about on our drive home was how she came about to be elected as 1 of 12 members of the Ottawa Real Estate Board. There are 3000 agents in this area and the board picked her to become the next board member. No one stood against that decision. What an honour. And all because of hard work!

My mom sets the example of hard work. When I look at her I see the Provers 31 woman. She doesn't do the same things as the lady in scripture but she certainly works just as hard in many other ways.

I am so proud of my mother. I can't wait to share this blog post with all who know her and all who know me!

Love you Moooooooder.

Developing a Love for Birthing Pains

I love labour.

Some of you women right away will say "she's crazy!" I've heard it so many times. I've had looks of wonder and disbelief when I tell people I love labour days. For me it's a day of pampering from my family, awesome food and in the end I get to lounge in bed for at least a day. Doesn't every woman want to be pampered like she's the most important person in the world? Or eat whatever she wants? Or get to lie in bed for hours without interruption being served breakfast lunch and dinner in bed?

Those are all sweet things but they are not actually the true highlight of labour and delivery for me. What I love most about it all is the excruciating pain brought about  bringing new life into this world.

"okay now she really is crazy".....keep reading.

In the beginning God created everything and it was good. In summary. And then the people God made, who represent all of humanity, who act as every one of our representatives, broke a promise they made to their maker ("no we will not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil") and as any good father would do, he gave them the discipline they needed. He told man he would toil in his work and he told woman her pain in child bearing would increase greatly. So what? I love the curse? No. I love the promise. Mankind is cursed until the day when we are reunited with God in heaven. How is the curse broken? Through the sacrifice of Jesus. Who took our place on the cross, sent our sins to their father in Hell, was raised from the dead, perfect and blameless and stands before our father in heaven just for us so that we may stand before God in the same way. Perfect and blameless in his sight.

Romans 6:3-11 says that we died on the cross with Jesus:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

We toil through pregnancy and sometimes we get to the end and wish it to be over and done with; we are so tired of being tired. and then labour hits. It comes out of nowhere. We women know that we are pushed to the point where we don't know how we are going to make it through the next contraction. How could this pain get any worse. And then it does. And it gets even worse and still gets even worse before it's over. And then all at once, with one final push of exasperation your body is limp, you lie back, close your eyes and hear the cry of the new life you were waiting for. Nothing matters anymore. You have received the prize. 

Here is the beautiful parallel that I get teary eyed thinking about. I have been tired of sin. Have you? Thinking I'm so tired of making the same mistake over and over again? Just like our tiredness by the end of pregnancy. Then comes labour itself. The sacrifice. JESUS.  Without a sacrifice, we can not stand before God our Father. He can't dwell with sin. Labour is like what life would be like without God. Hopeless. Painful. Longing for it to be over but it still gets worse. No end in sight. Despair. Only it doesn't end. And finally after a life of struggling through sin and being separated from God we receive his salvation. Just like when our baby is finally here. Nothing else matters except the new life God has given us. 

It's a small picture. But I am grateful for the examples God gives us of his salvation through worldly experience. I can't wait to experience salvation to God's degree. What about you?