Jenny

Hello All. Since katcarasella posted this poem for you to read and I wanted to say a few things about her as a MOM, since I am her daughter:

Well, the gift of hanging art on the fridge, my MOM displayed our art and it was the highlight of the house, *now my house is designed for my kids art* with this awesome clip system to post their work

The gift of helping strays, my MOM helped every animal in the city and she helped us hide strays from my dad, who was not a stray fan. We even kept them often as our own (Pepper, our first adopted stray, I think) ! *Now I take my girls to the humane society, and we foster sick animals*

Well, the favorite cake, my MOM made a secret ingredient cake for us (maybe she will share it here), and melted some special candy as frosting, *now I love to bake with my kids* We still chuckle about the "special cake"

My mom's unbelievable faith, I remember a time she was pretty sick (female stuff) and we were younger. I could not even think about losing her and I truly was scared to death, I remember her faith poured over and there was enough for both of us *now my kids say the cutest and sweetest prayers I have ever heard*

My mom gave us kisses at night and I still remember them....she was working to help with the finances on and off while we grew up, she would come home with these mini individual sized pound cakes, chocolate milk, and label them for us at the table. She would lay out our bowls, cereal, and spoons with a little homemade nametag, and a note "Do not wake me, I love you Jenny" and I would be soooo excited when I woke up. Ironically, I laid out my girls cereal and bowls, with a note for the first time about a week ago with a note, and truthfully I heard them talking, "Mommy loves us so much, she "set us up" this morning" Again, a gift from my mom.

My mom....ohhhhh this one......tears, tears, tears, she taught us to cry about a Hallmark commercial about a greeting card....now we all do it! Empathy that does not stop, even when actors are doing a commercial....love this gift too. Now my girls cry with me at every movie. We recently watched, THE ULTIMATE GIFT, very very very good, I suggest it....we needed a whole box of tissue for the 4 of us *my hubby too*. To this day, I call her crying or laughing really hard (she cannot tell the difference on the phone) and she says, "Jenny, Damn it, are you laughing or crying?" So she knows how to calm me or laugh with me.

Ohh the gift of seeing she cared....My mom DROVE with my sisters and BOYFRIEND across the country at least twice, to watch me graduate from the US Army and later US Army Airborne School (Hoor Raaahhh) and it is funny, I did not personally care as much about my accomplishments, as much as I cared about my mom thinking I was the best soldier out there. She is always so proud (she is soooo funny, I can administer IOWA tests to my kids now, and I called her to tell her how funny that is, "Color in the hole answer, use a no. 2 pencil" which is really not a HONOR or frankly a BIG deal and she was proud of me!). There is never a question whether or not she cares. I was pregnant this last December and desperately needing her...but I did not say it. My mom HATES travel in the winter, cold weather, and snow. There is a knock at the door, my house is in shambles, I have got 4 meal cooking at once, and there she is....luggage, dogs, and all. "Hi, I am here to help, are you surprised?" You could have tipped me over with a feather! She stayed for over 3 weeks and despite one temper tantrum on my part (hormones), we had theeeee most amazing time together.

So, I wanted to share with you that kids do watch and LEARN and I am thankful for my MOM. I think that I am a great MOM myself because of the things that she did "when I was not looking". GOSH, I am human and BOY, I make mistakes *huge ones too*, like speeding in UTAH and asking her to pretend we are going to the emergency room when we were heading to a wedding, nagging to borrow our family car without a license, having the party at my house (so she knew we were safe) and NOT remembering any of it (because of it, I refuse to drink & have never taken drugs....babies at home with a midwife, the extreme in many ways I think) It is funny, I learned to come to her regardless of the situation.

I can only hope that her example and unconditional LOVE will help me to be the best MOM I can be. Fortunately for my kids, if I cannot hit the mark, and I fail miserably....there is always Grammy (katcarasella)! ha ha ha

Thanks for letting me share.