Happy Birthday!

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love,

I am a housekeeper -- not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love,

my children learn cleanliness -- not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh.

Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.

Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys.

Love is present through the trials.

Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child,

then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Love is the key that opens salvation's message to a child's heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection.

Now I glory in God's perfection of my child.

As a mother there is much I must teach my child,

but the greatest of all is love.

~Jo Ann Merrill~

Twenty six years ago today, I became a mother.

I looked into those sweet eyes and saw a glimpse of God.

I never knew such love, such hope, such worry, such frustration, and such fear,

until I became a parent.

My son has no doubt taught me more, than I have taught him.

Twenty six years has not been enough time to do all we dreamed or planned.

But he has grown into a son that makes his parents so very proud.

It has been a comfort to have him nearby in recent years.

He was here to help and comfort through the difficult days of illness and surgery.

Yet, no mother should ever experience that type of worry and fear in the eyes of her child.

Soon, he will be moving several states away to begin another chapter of his life.

Nothing makes me happier than to see him so happy -- even though I will miss him very, very much.

The timing was perfect, and one of the best birthday gifts he could receive.

His birth, those twenty six years ago, was the best gift I ever received.

Happy Birthday!

Love, Mom