Happy Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day 2014, I (Luke) am hijacking the blog. Patty does a wonderful job with this labor of love so that our family and friends know all that is going on with us. As a stay-at-home mom and pastor's wife, much of what she does is unseen and too often goes unnoticed. So in honor of Mother's Day, I want to spotlight Patty for the the hardworking, dedicated, and wonderful mother that she is and say some of the things I am grateful for this Mother's Day.

• I am thankful for how intentional you are with our children. You work so hard to make sure that they are constantly growing and learning through experiences like park day every Tuesday or library day on Thursdays. I know that with three young children it is hard to make time to work on letters and numbers or to read Curious George Goes to the Hospital for the 1,342,109th time. Thank you for sacrificially taking time, energy, and effort to invest in the growth and development of our children.
• I am thankful for how sacrificial you are with your time. With our closest family being two hours away, you don't get much down time or escape time. You don't have family that you can call up at a moments notice to watch the girls (though we do have a wonderful church family who often volunteers to help). Sometimes that means you are sitting in a doctor's office for an appointment as you hold Eleanor and Anna Kate is asking you to explain something she read in a book while Caroline dangles upside down from a chair. All the while, the receptionist is looking at you with that trademarked, Southern "bless your heart" look. And yet, you don't complain. You just do what needs to be done.
• I am thankful for your hard work teaching violin. I am grateful that in addition to being a stay-at-home mom with cloth diapers to be done, reading lessons to be reviewed, and meals to be cooked, you work hard to teach violin lessons three days a week. I love to see how excited you get when you talk about how your students are growing and improving. And I love your passion for music and your desire to pass it on to the next generation.
• I am thankful for your dedication to working with Caroline's allergies. I know this has not been an easy road and much of the burden falls upon your shoulder. Just the other day, Caroline was asking about a party we are going to in a couple of weeks. When the topic of desserts came up, Caroline asked if you could bring one of her cupcakes. She may not understand the work that goes in to baking and keeping a stash of cupcakes in the freezer or cooking a separate meal for almost any time we go out, but she knows you love her and take care of her. I do understand how hard it has been for you emotionally and physically and am forever grateful for you.  I am grateful that Caroline has you as her advocate as you gently explain to yet another person that she has a real allergy (with epi-pen and everything) and eating one of her allergens might send us to the hospital, not just make her tummy a little upset.
• I am thankful that you are my partner in ministry. You don’t just support my calling as a pastor, but you are a partner in ministry and you find joy in it. I am thankful that you have been willing to invest in the girls of our student ministry, giving out your cell phone number, and talking about difficult situations with them. I am thankful that you are willing to open our home and bake brownies for our students and then stay up late cleaning up from our times of fellowship. I am thankful for Sunday mornings where you get the girls up, dressed, and fed while I am at the church getting things ready for worship and LifeGroups. I am thankful for you sharing the joyful (and not so joyful) days of ministry with me. You do more than many people in our church family can even guess and I am truly grateful.
  
  
• I am most of all grateful for your love for God and how that love pours out into everything that you do. You desire for our girls to know God and love Him with their whole hearts. You are constantly reading Bible stories, singing hymns, and speaking love, grace, and mercy into their tiny hearts. Patty, thank you for pursuing the calling of Deuteronomy 6:6-7 - "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."

Thank you Patty and Happy Mother’s Day 2014.