My Mama...

My mama is the one I am most alike of my parents. I look like my daddy and deep down inside I am a daddy's girl. But personality and character wise, I am very much my mama's daughter. It's funny because my daddy never forgets to remind me of that when I am home, whether in a joking or serious manner. He knows I take after my mama and therefore, tend to go to her a lot more than I do to him whenever life is falling apart or I am frustrated about something.

My mama is one of the strongest women I know. She is from upstate New York and has 2 brothers. She found herself in central Illinois to go to Bible college and then met my daddy. She had no desire at first to date him. But then began to give in. They got married and began a life of ministry and family craziness. She has dedicated herself to standing by my daddy's side in the role of preacher's wife. She supports him and encourages him whenever and however she can. She has also dedicated herself to standing by her family. She didn't choose to work in a church or a school, but rather she chose to work with her kids and invest us wholeheartedly. Her missions statement for her life says,

"I'm just a mom committed to leaving her legacy through her children. If, in spite of me and my many faults and mistakes, they grow to love God with ALL they are and then pass that faith on to their families and others; then I will be a success."

And she has done just that. She has (or is in the process of) homeschooled all of her kids (that's 20ish years of homeschooling!) and she runs us to all of our school events, youthgroups, soccer practices and work. She lives her life in a way that serves her family and instills in us the faith and love that she has.

Like I said earlier, I am very much like my mama. And she is the one that I get my love of missions from. I get my love of ministry from my daddy. But missions is from my mama. She has been involved with missions in some way or another for as long as I can remember. She was on the board of missions for a family who is doing Bible translation in West Africa for years. And she and my daddy made it a priority for each of their kids to go on a missions trip before graduating high school. She has read books upon books about missions and has always loved going to the NMC. She is the one who took me to Madison to hear and meet Steve Saint and Mincaye (see earlier post about Ecuador). She loves missions and has a missional heart like none other.

2 weeks ago my mama returned home from a 3 week trip she took to visit our friends in West Africa. She has been wanting to go for pretty much forever and finally got the opportunity to this year. She went in order to get the homeschool library organized for easy access and use by the missionary families. She cataloged and organized 5000 books and manipulatives. Along with getting to be introduced to the culture and see a little bit of what life is like over there. This weekend I went home to see her and hear her stories. It was fun to watch her face light up in a way that I have been told mine does when I talk about my trips and love for missions. She showed me all of her pictures and shared the crazy culture stories. And it was amazing.

As Spencer and I left to come back to school, I told him that my mama is who I get my love of missions from. And he told me that he figured that out as she was telling stories. It was funny that he noticed it. But it's so true. I don't think I would be as passionate and open to serving as a full-time cross-cultural missionary if it wasn't for my mama and the love for missions that I saw in her as I grew up.

To my mama: Thank you. Thank you for serving God by raising your family and investing in us. Thank you for sharing your love for Him and HIS kingdom with me as I grew up. Thank you for constantly encouraging me when I call home crying because of Prep and Maupin. Thank you for being the one I can go to when my love for missions is fading. I love you.