The "Because I Said So" Mom

We're still thinking mothers tonight. I've been getting so many great Mother's Day or Mother stories this week for my Honor Mom Giveaway. You can check out the prizes in the giveaway contest and how to enter on my website events page here. But now for a special treat. 

I've made so many reading friends on Facebook and here on my blog. I enjoy hearing from all of you and appreciate you reading my blogs and posts and my books. You're the best. 

One of those friends is Sandi. Last year when I was having my biopsy and then surgery for breast cancer, she sent me some first person experiences that kept me laughing. Nothing I'd had done could compare to the stories she told. I shared one of those stories on a previous blog here if you'd like to read it. And now she's shared this great piece about her mother. I wrote her back and said I was smiling and crying both. I know some of you will be doing the same. And while you younger readers may be a little taken aback by some of Sandi's story, rest assured that these old time mamas loved their children and took to heart the responsibility of making sure they grew up right. The "because I said so" generation did a great job of raising kids. So take it away, Sandi.

Sandi's Story  - A Woman Named Grace

How does one describe the love of a mother? I have had a mother, been a mother and am now a grandmother. What a gift God has given me. This story, however, is about a woman named "Grace." There were eight of us children –four girls and four boys. Mother was of the "because I said so" generation. 

She was such fun when she wasn’t having to save us from certain death or threatening us with certain death. She told us that she had eyes in the back of her head and as a very young child, I used to try desperately to see them. (I never did, but I still believe they were there). She was full of wisdom–"your face is going to freeze that way." Or.. "If everyone else jumps off a cliff, are you going to also? " One of her favorites was "I know how ugly I are...I know my face ain’t no star, but then I don’t mind it cause I’m behind it...it’s the guy in the front gets the jar." (If our hair needed shampooed or we look especially bad that day). She also told me that there was a special place at the top of her leg (maybe she said legs) where a baby came out...I tried to see that too, but finally, at around the age of 12 figured it out and quit looking. The eyes...not so much.

Mother had many "sayings" that I, then, tried to pass on to my kids. (Hers is definitely the voice I hear in my head). I would yell..."you do that again and I’ll knock you into the middle of next week" and they would look at one another and check their schedule to see what they’d be doing at that particular time. They were fearless. I guess without the slipper it just didn’t mean anything. 

Mother had a slipper–she used it with great gusto. She could whip that sucker off and knock you (into the middle of next week) before you even knew what hit you. She used that "enforcer" a lot when she was on the phone. Why is it that children think you’ve lost both sight and hearing when you’re seemingly distracted ,which, incidentally, she never was. We’d be chasing each other around the table laughing and shouting and "whack." Time suddenly stood still. That slipper was a promise of what was to come...and next week sounded pretty good about then.

And her eyes...oh those eyes. She didn’t have to say a word, but we knew what she wanted us to do. She could make my brothers walk the center aisle of the church and sit in the front seat (they’d been in the back giggling) without a word...just by giving them "the look." When she raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes, we knew that next week was a comin’. The worst was when she’d say she was going to knock you so far into next week that it would take two weeks for you to get back....she really meant business then. 

Sometimes she’d threaten with "I’m going to knock your head off and watch it roll across the floor." That was quite a visual!

"Wipe that look off your face" was one I worked hard at achieving. Just try not to look mad when you are...go ahead...try it. Impossible...but I know eight grown ups who can do it effortlessly. 

Or the rather famous when we were whining about something–"you wanna cry, I’ll give you something to cry about." Or when I’d see someone without teeth, I’d wonder if their mother had done what mine threatened when we’d sass–"you say that again and I’ll knock your teeth right down your throat." Ugh, shudder, yuck. 

I even tried it on my young daughter once...she had said something really nasty...as four-year-olds do now and then and I heard myself utter those words without even thinking–she looked horrified and responded "oh, dat would weely hurt." I had no power...no power whatsoever. I think I cried the whole rest of the day.

We had a record at home and a song on it that said "knock her down again, Pa, knock her down again." We hummed it a lot...but only in the backyard...far away from the house.

I was a victim quite often. I think I was born without a filter...or common sense...or the ability to know what I shouldn’t repeat. I had three older brothers. I’d overhear them talking and telling stories and then I’d repeat them at the most inopportune times. Like once when a spinster neighbor lady came to visit, I announced that I knew a joke. She, of course, wanted to hear it. "Mary had a little lamb and the doctor’s fainted." I hadn’t a clue as to what it meant, but Mother sure did. I think her eyes crossed.

Lest you get the impression that she was related to "The Wicked Witch of the West," she wasn’t. If you cried in the night, ever so softly, she was there with a cool cloth and a kiss and a promise that it would be better in the morning. If someone threatened one of "hers" she had a look that could make them run for cover. If it was "Parents Day" at school–there she’d be, looking quite unlike the lady in the duster and hairnet I had left at home in the morning. I especially liked her brown suit and the way she did her hair in a bun in the back. She was a classy lady...especially when she wasn’t wearing those slippers. 

She made the best pies and cookies of anyone I knew but wasn’t so good at "real" food. However, she never made you sit at the table until you ate something–with that many kids, there wasn’t room anyways. She would look at us lovingly and say "I have good kids." We all understood the hidden meaning... . She never ever told us to ride our bikes down the white line on Rt. 40 like one of our nameless Aunts was apt to tell her rather bratty kid to do. (I think one of my brothers offered him a push). 

And she taught us about Jesus, the most important presence in our lives. Nothing made me prouder than on Mother’s Day in church, when she’d win for having the most children. We’d all be scrubbed cleaner than clean and we’d clap wildly when she’d go up front to get her geranium. She has gone to be with the Lord now, but there is a whole new generation that carries on her sayings and even her name–Grace. As I said, I am a mother and a grandmother, but in my eyes, there is only one Mother worthy of that name–ours.

Thank you so much for sharing your story, Sandi. You definitely were blessed with a wonderful mother. I know you must treasure your memories of her and good times with your siblings. 

Did any of the rest of you have a mother like Sandi's? Mine never had any slippers but she could give you that look for sure.　

　

A Giveaway to Honor Mom

                    

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

Missing Mom

I'm missing my mother today on my first ever Mother's Day without her. As most of you know, Mom went home to be with the Lord in July last year. She had walked a tough path of dementia the last few years of her life. But today I'm missing her smile. Mom enjoyed life. She loved her family and took joy in her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She had so much love in her heart as most mothers do. So I hunted up a couple of pictures showing her with lots of smiles. 

Honor Mom Giveaway Contest

To honor Mom's memory this month, I'm having an Honor Mom Giveway Contest. I sent out the details of the giveaway in a newsletter yesterday. (If you didn't get it, but would like to, you can let me know and I'll add you to my e-mail newsletter list.) 

1st Prize

1st prize in the contest is a beautiful New King James study Bible. What mother wouldn't like that or wouldn't like for you to win that? That winner will also get his or her choice of one of my autographed books. 

2nd Prize

2nd prize is an autographed set of my Rosey Corner books, Angel Sister, Small Town Girl, and Love Comes Home. I picked those as a prize since Mom and all the stories she told me about growing up during the Great Depression were the inspiration for Angel Sister. Some of you may already have the books or have already read the stories, but I'm sure you have a reading friend who might enjoy the stories too should you win. 


To Enter

To enter you can send me an e-mail at annhgabhart(at)hughes(dot)net or leave a comment here on one of my blog posts in May with a way to contact you should you be a lucky winner. The deadline for entries is midnight EST on May 30, 2015. The contest is open to USA and Canada. (Sorry, international readers, but that Bible is heavy.) Also, you must be 18 to enter. 

If you want, you can share a favorite Mother's Day memory with me. That's not necessary to enter, but we always have fun sharing stories here. 

A Mother's Day Story

Some of you have already entered and shared some stories. This one from Janet made me reach for the tissue box.

"My first Mother's Day without Mama was 2 years ago. As you said, you knew your Mom loved you even though she couldn't say it.

My Mother who also had Dementia fell 2 days before she died. I went into the ER room and told the doctor she was my Mom. As soon as my mother heard my voice, she said, "Is that Janet"? I had not heard Mama say my name in 3 years. She knew I was her daughter but she didn't know my 2 sisters. She only knew them as very nice ladies who were taking care of her.

My favorite Mother's Day memory is being with her at the church she went to. She would see me sitting in the pew and her face would just light up. Oh, how I miss that!

I better go blow my nose and wipe my eyes. It's hard to type and cry at the same time."

Thank you for sharing that with us, Janet. That had to be a heart gift to you to have your mother speak your name.

Thanks, everyone, for reading. 

  

Hands On Learning - Experience Not Required

This is the very first picture of me as a mother. I was very young. Seventeen. But I loved that baby from the first moment I knew I was expecting even though it meant my life was going to drastically change. My girlhood days would come to an end and I would have to be an adult. A mother. 

I didn't know anything about being the mother of a baby. I knew my mother. She was a wonderful mother to me, but I was the baby of the family. So while I was fascinated with babies, I had rarely held a baby before my own baby was born. My older sister had a baby a little over a year before I did, but her baby was a mama's girl and didn't take to other people holding her. So I had mostly smiled and played with her without picking her up. I was afraid I wouldn't know what to do if she cried. Actually, I do know what I would have done if she cried. I would have handed her off to her mother or my mother.

But suddenly (9 months can feel sudden sometimes) I was a mother. A baby boy was dependent on me for care. I had to hold him and keep him fed and dry and smiling if I could. I had to rock him through stuffy noses and teething and nights when he wouldn't sleep. Besides that, I had to put meals on the table and keep our old farmhouse relatively clean. I had to wash clothes and diapers and try to figure out how to treat diaper rash.

The one thing I didn't have to figure out was how to love him. That was with my whole heart. And somehow I stumbled along and with the help of my husband and my mother who was always ready with the answers I needed about what a mother should do, I managed to raise a wonderful son. Not quite two years later, my daughter came along and then some years after than, my youngest son. By then, I felt like an old hand at being a mom. 

But the first baby, it was all hands on learning. In spite of my inexperience, he turned out all right. Well, better than all right. He was a wonderful son and still is. Now he's a great husband and father too. Here we are probably when he was a senior in high school.



You know what got me through. Mother love. Mine for him and my mother's for me because she was always ready to help. She never said I was too young although she probably thought it. She was my rock when I needed someone to lean on. I treasure the days we spent together when my kids were little. A good time for me. A good time for them. A good time for Mom. And she loved my grandkids too. Here she is with my two oldest grandkids about twelve years ago.
 
Mom doesn't remember those times now. But I believe they are still part of her and at times the echoes of their happiness brings a smile to her face even if she can't remember what is being echoed in her heart. 

I put this quote I really liked in our church bulletin today. "My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune." (Graycie Harmon)

That's Mom - remembering the tune of a loving mother even though she has forgotten the words. 

Did you know all about babies when you first became a mother? Or were you like me and had to learn on the motherhood job?

Smiles Make a Difference

What Sunshine is to Flowers, Smiles are to Humanity. ~Joseph Addison

 

Today was Mother's Day. A beautiful time to remember Moms everywhere. It was a sad day for some who were missing a mom gone on before them. I still have my mother, but she's not the mother I've known all my life. Dementia has stolen her memories and joy in living. It's hard for her to get up and down. Hard for her to walk. Hard for her to understand the confusing world she now lives in where people tell her she's at home when she knows she's not. She wants the homes of old, not this one where she's lived for thirty years but now can't remember where the bathroom is. 

 

My mother always enjoyed life. Whatever life threw at her, she managed to keep smiling and doing whatever needed to be done. The smiles are harder to come by now, but they can make such a difference in her day. To her and even more to me.

 

Nobody needs a smile so much as the one who has none to give. So get used to smiling heart-warming smiles, and you will spread sunshine in a sometimes dreary world. - Lawrence G. Lovasik  

 

Mom has gotten a lot worse the last few months. She's often unhappy, often agitated, often wishing to go home to see her mother who has been gone for almost forty years. The other day when Mom was having an unhappy time, my sister asked her how old she was and she said, "Sixteen." Well, no wonder she thinks her mother will be upset if she stays out all night. It's no wonder she looks at her hands and rubs and rubs them thinking they are "dirty." Those age spots and wrinkled skin are not supposed to be there. And no wonder she doesn't know me some of the time. She didn't have children when she was sixteen.

 

She doesn't always think she's sixteen. She jumps around to lots of different ages, but very rarely thinks about being ninety-three. Sometimes she wonders why her husband never comes home. Sometimes she worries about the children. She needs to be taking care of them. If I tell her I am her daughter, Ann, she will look at me as though that's the craziest thing she can imagine or perhaps say she means that "other Ann," the younger one.

 

Then there are times when she does know who I am, and we can find reasons to smile. Like getting our hair curled. Like watching America's Funniest Home Videos, one of the few TV shows that she'll watch. She likes the little children on there. Sometimes, we can watch Curious George because they have clips of kids doing things. And she'll watch golf. Not sure why except that Daddy used to like to watch golf.

 

So we take it day by day. At times, five minutes at a time in hopes that the next five minutes will be better. And we try to squeeze in a few smiles now and again.

  "The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions -- the little, soon-forgotten charities of a kiss or smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment."  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Did you share some smiles with your mother today - in life or maybe in your memory? Smiles don't have to be hoarded away. The more we give away, the more we get in return. 

 

 

Angel Sister and Mom

Eveyln on the left, Mom on the right

This is my mom and her older sister taken in front of the house where she grew up. I'm guessing Mom is maybe 16 or 17 here. For those of you who have read my book, Angel Sister, here are the two real people that became my characters, Kate and Evangeline. Mom didn't call her sister, Evelyn, Evie, but one of the other sisters did. So that's why I had to come up with a name that could be shortened to Evie since I didn't want to use Evelyn's real name. Then that helped the poetry come into play. That's how a writer's mind goes. This little bit of an idea leads to another little bit of an idea until you get the story built.

The plot of Angel Sister is completely fiction, but I built the background and setting from my mom's memories. That was hard at times because I had to separate my characters from the real sisters in order to tell my fictional story. But it was also fun and has made this book a story from my heart and from the heart of my mom. A lot of people downloaded Angel Sister when it was a free e-book last week. That was fun for me. If you didn't get a chance at the free download, the price for a download is reduced until the end of May. Plus you still have time to let me know you'd like your name in the giveaway for a print book (5 winners who will have their choice of one of my books). I'll do the drawing the end of May.

This is Mom twenty years later when I was just beginning to dream of being a writer. I thought she was beautiful and always wanted to look like her, but few people ever said I did. I look more like my dad. But the best thing about Mom was how she was always my biggest supporter while helping me learn to do things for myself.

That's a mama's job. Push the baby birds out of the nest when they're ready to fly. And yet somehow manage to keep being the wind beneath her child's wings. My mom did that. Taught me the things I needed to know and was always there for me with love and wisdom. She can't do that any more, but even now, even in the confusion of her dementia, she loves me and my sisters. It's just that she often drifts in time and now she really wants her mother to be there holding her and loving her. So my sisters and I try to love her through it but we're not good substitutes for a mother and the flashes of long past memories that are seeming so real to her. Some of those memories, or the echoes of them, are in Angel Sister. 

Happy Mother's Day to all of you! What do you love best about your mom? And if your mom has moved on up to heaven, what memory of her makes you smile? What I always loved best about my mom was her cheerful attitude - an attitude that said something might be hard, but we'd figure out a way. We always did.

Thanks for reading.
.

Mom's Day and News to Go

My mother and father on their wedding day in 1939. The photo is old, but this was a day of beginnings for my mother. A couple of years later she became a mom when my older sister was born. I came along the last of three daughters. She was the very best mother I could have had. A lot of people think that about their mothers, and that's good. But for me, my mom is best. Dad's been gone for over twenty years now and Mom at 91 is having some health struggles. Her memory is giving out on her and she doesn't get up and down easily. Things are hard, but she still tries to hang in there and live the best she can. 

I wrote about her as "My Mother, My Friend, My Character" in a guest blog for Bookreporter.com  http://blog.bookreporter.com/blog/2011/05/ann-h-gabhart-my-mother-my-friend-my-character. She and her stories were so instrumental in getting a true historical background for Angel Sister. 

My mother got married the day after she graduated from high school. She was 19. In a few years our country was plunged into war. Dad didn't get called up because he was a farmer, but two of mom's sisters' husbands went into the service. Both came home but many men did not. Tom Brokaw wrote a book titled The Greatest Generation. I read his book and I think he got the title right. But that's another post for another day. This is a day to honor mothers. I have a beautiful mother who loved me. I don't think I could ask for any more. Not only that, but I love being a mother. Each of my children were and are still a blessing to me. And now their families are added on blessings.

  

I talked about being a mom and my mom too in a newsletter I sent out yesterday. I have been trying to get going on a new newsletter for a while, but that deadline kept glaring at me. It still is, but I decided to take time to tell all my reading friends Happy Mother's Day and to give than a chance to read about my new book, The Blessed coming out in a few weeks, and about the celebration giveaway I'm going to have. I'm giving away 5 copies of The Blessed, one of Angel Sister along with an angel statue, and two books that will be the winner's choice of my titles. All you have to do to enter is send me an e-mail from Facebook or my website or leave a comment with a way I can contact you in case you win. You get extra chances to win if you let me know you've never won anything from my website and if you tell me about a blessing you got from reading something. I'll do the drawing in June. Also if you'd like to get my occasional newsletter, just let me know and I'll add your name to my newsletter list. You can be assured that I never give out your e-mail addresses to anyone. The giveaway is available only to residents of the U.S. and Canada. There are legal restrictions on these giveaways for other countries.

Thanks for reading. Tell me something about your mother.

Happy Mother's Day!!

~~One thing all of us have in common is that we have a mother. Father too but it's not Father's Day so we're not talking about him today. Here's a picture of my mom and my youngest granddaughter. Nothing like a baby to bring joy out in a mama, grandmama or great grandmama. It is such a blessing to be part of a family that can enjoy the interaction of several generations.

~~I've been posting Mother's Day sayings on Facebook this week. The one I found that I liked best was by Jill Churchill. "There's no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one." None of us are perfect. But most all of us work hard to be good moms. Love can cover a multitude of mistakes. I made some with my kids that I still regret, but life moved on. The kids survived my imperfect mothering and thrived under my mother love.

~~But thinking about moms got me to wondering about the mothers in my novels. And you know, I haven't written about many good moms. Anyway not that were still breathing when the story is happening. In my Hollyhill books, Jocie's mother deserted her when Jocie was five. That isn't one of the million ways to be a good mom for sure. Adrienne comes into the story more in the Summer of Joy and I hope I made her real. She was very real to me and a very important part of the story in the first two books even though she only appeared in those stories in Jocie's and David's memory. In the third book, I tell some of the story from Adrienne's viewpoint and I think the scene in the doctor's office where she's getting a diagnosis of breast cancer is one of the better scenes I've ever written. Nobody else has ever told me that, so that might just be a writer's delusion. I also had Leigh's mother in that book - another mother with some issues. In fact reading those books, nobody would know what a great mother I have. Nothing of the mothers in those books came from personal experience with my own mother.

~~Gabrielle's mother in The Outsider wouldn't win any mother of the year awards either and after they join the Shakers, Gabrielle and her mother have a Shaker sister relationship. In The Believer, Elizabeth has a good mother, but she dies before the story starts. In The Seeker (in stores soon!!) Charlotte's mother died when Charlotte was fifteen. I'm beginning to note a trend here. But I'm saved from being too predictable by Angel Sister due out in January 2011 where Nadine is a wonderful mother. My kind of mom. And breathing all through the story. That's a good thing for that story. In my next book I'm going to have a fantastic mother character who lives to be 102. ;-)

~~I sent out newsletters. A lot of them bounced back at me. I loaded them up with too much info and pictures, I guess. Someday I'll learn this stuff - maybe. I'll try to resend tomorrow. Anyway I am doing giveaways in June and the first week of July for autographed copies of The Seeker when it comes out. If you want to enter in the fun, just make a comment here or send me an e-mail from my website, http://www.annhgabhart.com/. I'll be doing a drawing every week in June and then the first week in July doing two drawings with one just for those of you who haven't yet won one of my books. Then I'll include something from the Shaker village gift shop in one of those drawings. Not sure what yet, but something Shaker related.

~~Hope you had a great Mother's Day with lots of good times and that you were able to tell your mom you loved her. But if she's no longer with you, I hope you have many good memories that make you smile and remember the million ways she was a good mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there and to all of you who had a mama. I'll wager that gets you all. Except maybe for Wes in my Hollyhill books. Remember he always claimed to be from Jupiter and Jupiterians probably come from magic beans that old Mr. Jupiter throws on the ground and out pops a Jupiterian, each in various states of maturity. That's so things won't get boring. At least that would be how Wes would explain it to Jocie in Hollyhill. He liked coming up with crazy Jupiterian scenarios.

Back to earth, I hope you had a good mama who loved you without boundaries. Who loved you so much she made you act right and wash behind your ears and pick up your stuff and weed the garden or mow the lawn. I'm sure you can think of at least one thing you hated to do but that your mama made you do anyway and now you can see it was because she loved you and wanted you to grow up to be a responsible, strong adult able to do the things you should. That's why we have mamas. (And Daddies too, of course, but their day is in June.)

And it's not always that easy to be one of those mamas. In the bulletin today I used something I'd once gotten in one of those internet pass-along messages. This one was supposed to be what second graders answered to questions about why God made Moms. One of the questions was "What are Mamas made of?" The second grader answered, "Clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean." There are times that moms need that one dab of mean. At least in so far as proper discipline goes. So I hope you had a mom with the right balance of all the things that make a great mom and I hope you are managing the same balancing act if you're a mom now. One thing sure, a mom never retires from loving her children. And then if you're truly blessed, the grandkids come along and your love keeps growing and spreading.

You know, you might run out of energy. I do that plenty. But it seems the more you dip into your well of love, the deeper it gets. Sort of like that story in the Old Testament where the widow had no money to pay her creditors and they were going to take her children as slaves in payment of the debt. When Elisha asked her what she had, she told him all she had was one small bottle of oil. The prophet told her to collect pots and pitchers and every type of container she could find or borrow from her neighbors and go inside her house, shut the doors and windows and pour the oil from her bottle into those containers. The oil kept pouring and filled every pot she had and didn't stop pouring out until there were no more containers to fill. Then the oil stopped pouring. When she went back to the prophet to tell him what had happened, he told her to sell the oil and pay her debts. The woman was rewarded in direct proportion to how many containers she gathered in faith. I've never heard a preacher use that Bible story for a Mother's Day sermon, but I think it would be a good one. A mother's love combined with faith and trust in the Lord's providence can be powerful.

My sisters and I went to eat lunch with my mom who is eighty-nine. She wasn't feeling real great today, but she went outside with us and sat in the sun while we planted all the flowers we bought her for Mother's Day. She likes flowers and birds and crossword puzzles. She used to travel a lot. Went all over - to England and Scotland and Hawaii and Alaska and Austria, to name a few destinations. If there was group organizing a trip, she was ready to jump on board. She can't travel now. She gets too tired. She's winding down and knows it. But at the same time she still takes joy in the beautiful things in life and in us, her daughters, and her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I've written a book with the setting and a few characters based loosely on stories she's told me about growing up in the thirties. Revell has it and will be publishing it after the Shaker books are published, probably in a couple of years. I'm hoping readers will like the story when they get a chance to read it. Before that though there will be a few more Shaker books beginning with The Believer in around three months now. And when I get my books, I'll take Mom a copy and she'll put it with my other books in a prominent place in her living room. One thing about most moms, they don't mind bragging about their kids.

So if you're a mom, go ahead and brag about your kids. It's your day and you've got a right to be proud. And don't forget to enjoy your mom if you're lucky enough to still have her with you. If she's gone on to be with the Lord, remember some of the best times and the everyday times and the "I know I was loved" times and savor those memories.

"God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers."-- Jewish proverb


"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown. In my heart it don't mean a thing." -- Toni Morrison

Quotes for Mother's Day

Here are some quotes to give us some inspiration this week before Mother's Day. What a wonderful day. I hope you all tell your mother you love her if you're still lucky enough to have a Mom this side of heaven.

"God could not be everywhere so He made mothers." Hebrew Proverb

"Mothers are daily miracles we sometimes take for granted." Elinor Filice

"I know enough to know when you're in a pickle...call Mom." Jennifer Garner

"Good character, like good soup, is usually homemade."

"The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother." Therese of Lisieux


Hope all you moms have a great weekend of love.