As I was thinking about what I wanted to do for my mom for Mother's day, I stopped reflected on the mom that the Lord blessed me with. She is such a woman of strength. She raised 5 girls all on my dad's income. She sure knew how to stretch a dollar as well as keep her sanity with so many girls in the house. She was the oldest girl in her family and also helped to raise her two younger sisters. I obviously didn't know my mom when she was growing up, but I could definitely see her being a leader in her family as well in school. She is also a woman of great independence. This is a trait she definitely passed on to her daughters. Dad worked a lot and she stayed at home with us. She didn't have anyone while she was raising us to help her out with baby-sitting, if they needed a little extra money to help pay a bill, or anything else that we sometimes depend on our parents for. Since she wasn't accustomed to leaning on others, she learned to take care of her family herself. My sisters and I learned at a young age that if you want something, you need to work for it. Most of us put ourselves through college all while working at the same time. Mom and Dad didn't have the money to put all of us through college, so if we wanted to go, then we would have to find a way to do it. She is a woman of small stature, but don't let her size fool you. She is quite feisty! :-) I see a lot of her in Journey. The other day he was pitching a fit and she said, "Boy he has a little temper, I wonder where this comes from?" I just looked at her and said, "Really??"