{Selfless, Strong, Spiritual, & Stubborn: My Mother}

"A Mother is someone who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take." -Unknown

It's no secret that I love my mom more than anything in this world. She is truly an amazing woman. Words cannot satisfy my adoration for my mom: if I were to search through every block-letter definition in every jam-packed page in every dictionary in the entire universe, I would still be unable to fully express the loving music of my soul.

She is the most selfless, strong, and spiritual person I know. I love her so much. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but she is such a devoted mother. When I was four years-old, she decided to stop her career as a 3rd Grade teacher to home-school my siblings and me, in hopes of giving us the best education possible and help us develop a passion for learning. My mom spent countless hours reading the exciting tales of the Pevensie children in Narnia, Harry's adventures in Rowling's magical world, Nephite-verses-Lamanite battles in the Book of Mormon, and so on, and therefore passing on a great adoration for reading. For that I am incredibly grateful.

My mom's strength never ceases to amaze me. Her last three years have been extremely challenging for her. Since her initial spinal reconstructive surgery in 2011, which took a turn for the worse when the surgeon botched the surgery due to impairment, she has endured more physical pain than she ever thought possible. In the 2011 surgery, rods were implanted in her spine all the way up to her shoulder blade area. Her spine was rotated (twisted), from scoliosis, and the rods were implanted without correcting that rotation. The rods now force her into a painful posture with her spine twisted to the right, while being forced to lean left, and also with a forward lean.  She is unable to stand up straight. Because of this, she was confined to a wheelchair for over a year and has suffered from serious nerve damage that causes her to regularly faint with no prior signals or warnings.

She never gave up hope. She continues to care for our family and love us unconditionally. She still reads my little brother bedtime stories, takes time to make music videos with my sister, and helps me navigate through the craziness of senior year. No matter how much pain she is in, she always puts us first. (Of course, sometimes I wish she would put herself and her needs first, but she's so incredibly stubborn.)

Despite all that's been taken from her physically, I still wake up to her studying the Bible and I walk past her room to see her on her knees praying. I know she has a testimony of God's love and doesn't blame God for her physical challenges, which would be easy to do, given her situation.

Mommy, I want to thank you for being such an inspiration to me in all you do. Thank you for sacrificing your career, countless hours of sleep, energy, and so much more to give Sarah, James, and me the best lives possible. Thank you for planting a desire to love learning in my heart over a decade ago--I KNOW I would not be where I am today without it. Thank you for reading Red Sails to Capri, Narnia, and Ginger Pye to us. Thanks for playing round after round of Rat-a-Tat-Cat, hopscotch, and Birdopoly. Thank you for tucking me into bed every night when I was little, driving me to every soccer, baseball, and basketball practice and going to all my games. Thank you for teaching me the gospel and for being my Primary Chorister and Activity Days Leader. Thanks for letting me have all the sleepovers and for spending countless hours preparing for homeschool co-op. Thank you for being my anchor in times of chaos. Thanks for all you do--I love you so much.

And that's my story.