My Mom

I am having a really hard time today. I fasted for my mom today. My family just found out on Thursday that my mom has breast cancer. I don't even know what to say, I love her so much, and I don't want her to go through what she is going to have to. I wish I could take it away from her, and do all the suffering for her. She has been through so much in her life (wasn't raising 9 kids trial enough!:) My mom is all I can think about, and I hope my sister doesn't mind, but I am going to copy a post she did on Mother's Day about my mom onto this post. If you don't know my mom, this is a pretty good summary of my mother and my childhood.

"This year I want to tell you a little about my mom! I know everyone says they have the best mom, but I truly do!

My mom gave birth to 9 kids; 6 girls and 3 boys. 5 of the nine of us are born in a 5 1/2 year time frame. All nine of us married in the temple. All of us girls earned our Young Women in Excellence awards and all 3 boys are Eagle Scouts.

My mom fixed a hot breakfast every morning except Sunday which was cold cereal day. We got oatmeal, cream of wheat, pancakes, waffles, eggs, or biscuits all made from scratch. Nothing from a box. I won't lie and say we loved every hot breakfast. We became pros at hiding uneaten lumpy oatmeal and or drowning it in sugar and syrup! She would find cold bowls of cream of wheat hidden under coats and backpacks in the hallway.

My mom ground her own wheat and made fresh whole wheat bread. She always seemed to time it so it came out of the oven right before we got home from school so we had fresh warm bread with melted butter and sweet honey for our after school snack. If it wasn't bread day, we had fresh warm cookies to dunk in cold milk.

My mom was/is an incredible seamstress. She made Pound Puppies, Care Bears, Cabbage Patch Kids, and all kinds of "popular" toys so we still had "the cool" toy. I still have 2 of my Pound Puppies! My mom made everything from summer outfits to bathing suits to dresses. She drew the line at jeans but underwear was not off limits! Every Easter and Christmas all the girls received a new beautiful home-made dress of our choosing. Sometimes a birthday dress too! Many nights, we fell asleep to the hum of Mom's sewing machine. For my wedding and several of my sister's, she made our wedding dresses along with the brides-maid dresses. Mine was hand beaded and unbelievably gorgeous! I was a princess on my wedding day. She has also sewn many of her 28 grand-baby's blessing outfits. Tailored to fit perfectly and just what the new mommy wanted for her baby!

Each year for our birthday's, my mom made us a special cake. When you are one of 9, it can be hard to feel like an individual but we knew that on our birthday it was OUR DAY! No chores, whatever we wanted for dinner, and a fun birthday cake made just for us! This is a tradition I have tried to carry on with my own kids and I love doing it! The cake I remember the most was a carousal cake. It was beautiful with a lacy paper doily for the top. Someone lit the candles and everyone started to sing happy birthday. Suddenly that paper doily caught fire and things got a little exciting! Very memorable!!

My mom did a great job of allowing us to learn how to love living creatures by owning small critters. I can't tell you how many hamsters, guinea pigs, and other small furry critters we had. She drew the line at scales; no snakes or lizards allowed! Many times our little friends would die in the heart of winter and we could not bear to just throw our friends away without a proper burial. Sometimes she knew and other times we just did it, but we would wrap those tiny bodies in toilet paper and place them lovingly in a small shoe box and then freeze them in the extra freezer until it was warm enough to dig a hole in the ground. One time she even gave one of the frozen hamsters to a group of youth on a scavenger hunt!

This post may make my mom seem like she is perfect but she is as human as the rest of us. I can thank her for my amazing procrastination skills. Many times we received our birthday gift only partially sewn with the promise to complete it a.s.a.p. I can keep a clean house but I am not so good at conquering the daily clutter. I have Mom to thank for this skill!

My mom is an incredibly giving, loving, and accepting person. She does not speak ill of others, does not offer advice unless asked for it, and will do anything for you. She has a deep pure testimony of the gospel. She shows this testimony through her every action and word. I love my mom with all my heart and hope that my own kids will feel this kind of love for me someday! More importantly, I hope and pray I will earn this kind of love as my mom has with every tear wiped and hug shared! I love you MOM!" - Melissa Johnson (Finch)

Not only that, but she and my dad have served 3 missions since I have been married. They were just contemplating a fourth, before this came up.

I love you so much mom, and hope and pray that everything will be okay.
You are in my prayers.