Sometimes she will pretend to be on the phone with her Ah-mah (grandma), her pehpeh (uncle Gilbert) or some other people. I love to hear those conversations she had in these imaginary phone calls. She will tell the imaginary caller what she did or what animals she saw and sometimes she will even laugh and said “so funny” as if someone has just told her a joke. Haha.

She loves it even more if daddy calls home. She will pester me to pass the phone to her so that she can speak with her daddy by telling me, “Ah Ta call (talk to) daddy! Ah Ta call daddy!”
When she has the phone, she will talk non stop. She will tell daddy about the sheep, goats and the chickens she saw in the farm, or talk about her toys like barney and baby bop. It is really nice hearing the conversations of the father and daughter.

The following pix was taken during Nikita’s conversation with daddy last Wednesday. See how happy she was. By the way, she was on speaker mode that explains why she didn’t put the phone near her ear.

resting in front of the fireplace at Grammy & Grampie's house
(shortly after she trotted quickly into the living room and pooed on the carpet)

despite the devil eye's she's an angel

'thank you, dad!  i love you!'

But I can feel it.  I feel better when I write, journal, whatever - whether it is actually written or typed.  I feel better if I take some time during the day to write out what I need to remember, what is worrying me, what I need to do or take care of, plan things out, or simply vent.  I really need to do this right now - surely 5-10-15 minutes a day is doable.

"Sit there and don't you dare touch anything."
"I thought I told you to sit at the table?!"
"Get in bed! And stay there!"
"Abby! What are you doing?"
"Honey, are you going to go to the store?"
"So I assume you're going to the store after work then?"
"You two! Cut it out!"
"This is mine. Go get your own."

Etcetera, etcetera. I say other ones, but I won't bore you with a post made up entirely of quotes. There's other things that float around in my head that I would LOVE to say, but you know I don't think it would be appropriate for me to post them here. Usually I accompany these quotes by one or a few of the following:

1. Raised voice
2. Screaming
3. Pointing
4. Jumping up and down
5. Pulling my hair out

So yeah, I will be the first to admit that being married with children makes you bald, hoarse and an insomniac. I'm just warning all you newlyweds and engaged couples out there. Being married might be fine in itself, but having kids is a completely different ballgame. It's like the difference between baseball and cricket. 

Foi nessa cela que ele passou a primeira noite depois de ser preso preventivamente na madrugada de quarta-feira. Ontem, Alexandre passou a dividir uma cela um pouco maior com seis presos. Hoje, como ocorre toda sexta-feira, é dia de visita na carceragem do 13º DP. A família de Alexandre poderá vê-lo. Visitantes mulheres podem entrar de manhã e homens, à tarde.

You know how pop culture has this idea that pregnant women have these really strong, random cravings? When Steph first got pregnant, everyone teased me that I would be making late-night runs to the grocery store to watermelon, ice cream, and pickles.

Well, two weeks ago, this jar had about 20 pounds worth of pickles in it, and I had like two of them...

I better stock up on watermelon and ice cream...

Doesn't that sound great?  NO MORE POVERTY. 

But is it really possible?  Jesus said that the poor would always be with us.

I don't believe that poverty will ever be eliminated, but I believe that Christians have a responsibility to do the best we can to truly care for the poor.  By care I don't mean giving them money or things.  By care I mean looking at what their real needs are and then on a one to one basis help them to solve those needs - it may be money but it is most likely so much more. 

That is why KidTrek is excited about the direction the Lord has taken us in the last year.

KIDTREK EQUIPS CHURCHES TO REACH
FAMILIES IN CRISIS.
KidTrek establishes youth programs in partnership with local
churches to serve the community.
Through modeling, training, and coaching KidTrek equips adults to
 build intentional, long-term relationships with families in crisis.
Our goal is to see at-risk kids become
Christ-changed, hope-filled, productive adults.

As missionaries model for a church how to serve the poor we believe that individuals in the church will want to become a part of this mission and will get involved - on a one-to-one basis.

We do not believe the government can make a difference in the lives of the poor!  Have they been able to do so so far?  I believe they have caused more damage than good with the welfare system.  Not that people didn't want to do good - they just didn't know how.  You can't help people through a bureaucracy.  People are helped when other people get to know them and love them and discover what the real need is for that person, that family.

Each person, each family has a different need - mentally, socially, spiritually, emotionally, physically. 

I know it is so much easier to think that all we need to do is throw money at them.  When you get personally involved with the poor there is a huge cost and it gets messy.  But this is what Jesus Christ has called us to do.  "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Luke 10:25-37

True love means knowing a person and what the real needs are - not just superficial, make me feel good "love."  Too much of what is done for the poor is to feed the ego of the giver not truly help the poor.

Would you like to join KidTrek in the walk to serve families in crisis?  If so click here to see how you can make a lasting difference.

Mother's Day Weekend is here. It is a special day for me, special because I have been in active duty now for 31 years. Plus 11 years as a grandmother. I wouldn't trade a single day. Not even the stormy ones.

Yes, it's true...I had an early start. Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you hit a home run.

Although, I didn't wake one day and say, "Gee...I think I'll try being a sixteen year old mom, won't that be a smart idea!"  I did learn more from that rocky road than all of the other hard knock classes I took put together.

I learned about unconditional love. I learned about commitment. I learned about priorities. (You learn about that sort of thing in the middle of the night with an asthmatic child who can't breathe and you haven't slept in three days.) I learned about money. I learned about not having any.

Yep...kids teach you everything. All of mine have taught me new things. My oldest, being the pioneer daughter, blazing the trail for the others, had it the hardest. She had to dig her way through the hardest clay, my skills as a parent, untried and alone for the most part. We experimented together. Frick and frack, figuring it out as we went along. We learned a lot together. The rest of them should send her Mother's day cards.

When she was 16, she wrote a poem and gave it to me for Mother's Day.

I appeared like lightning piercing the sky;
Greatly unexpected, a hindrance was I.
Washing away goals, changing dreams like the tide,
I crushed her youth the moment I arrived.

But her love flourished with each passing day,
As she accepted her life, the gift that I gave.
Our life was not charted, predicted, or planned;
We faced our troubles hand in hand.

They flooded our lives, right from the start,
But made us two people; stronger of heart.
She welcomed my presence for she did know,
That when a storm goes by, it leaves a rainbow.

 I CRIED......

But it was true. All of my children are exquisite rainbows with the most glorious colors in the universe.

I know that all of the mothers out there feel the same way about their rainbows too. So for mothers everywhere this weekend, I am sharing my gratitude for all of our children and for everything they have taught us, shown us and shared with us.

 For the gift of being a mother.

Happy Mother's Day Moms.

I have been blessed.

Here is what you need:

Eggo Whole Wheat Waffles, Peanut Butter, Honey, and Apples

We slice our apple slices pretty thin.

 (Sorry for the bad pic.)

Toast your waffles and spread your favorite peanut butter on both sides.

Squirt a little honey on but not too much or it will pour out when you go to take a bite.  Add the thin apple slices to one side, slap them together, and call the troops!

This is a great way to start the day!  It stays with you.  In fact we won a school recipe contest with this and won an IPOD shuffle!

You can also add banana slices to this as well.

Have a "YUMMY" Day!

CONTEST COUNTDOWN - I am in the final strech of my tips.  To enter the contest link any of my A-Z tips on your blog and let me know.  I will enter you for a chance to win some really wonderful prizes. 

Mother's Day-  Jeff always made Mother's Day such a special day for me.  This year I'm skipping it.  Then next year, now matter what I do it will be BETTER than the year before.  Makes sense to me...

May 20th-  On this day it will have been 6 months since I last saw Jeff alive.  Since I last kissed him goodbye.  I'm not exactly sure how I am going to get through this day, but I will. 

May 31st-  Is the burial up in Canada.  Because the ground was frozen when he died he's had to hang out in a vault all this time.  There will be a grave side service with family and friends.  I am leaving the kids here in MN, I don't think it is fair to make them go through it all again.  Heck, it's not fair that I have to either.  I'm hoping his marker is there.  I want to see it.  I'm not exactly sure how I am going to get through this, the drive to Canada, the service, or the drive back to MN.  But I have no choice, I will because I have to.  I'm hoping it brings me peace that he will finally be in his final resting place.  sometimes life really sucks.

Father's Day-  This will be rotten, but I have plans to take the kids mini golfing and to race go-carts.  If Jeff was with us he would love this plan.  Maybe I'll even attempt to BBQ something on the grill.  Father's Day is do-able. 

Aug 24th-  Jeff's birthday.  I plan on taking the kids to WI Dells.  I think that will keep us all positive.  Or at least keep me insane enough to not be so sad.

In between all these fun events are Juli's, Ben's, Sally's and Joe's birthdays.  WooHoo (not).  I can do it, I'll just have to use my lovely fake smile.

*Smile*

Person, (and I use this term lightly):

You have been out on National Television and sporting how you are going to announce yourself the presumptive winner on May 20^th.  Really?  And just who do you think is going to believe this?  

It is also reported that you are trying to win over Hillary’s supporters.  Well let’s think about this for a moment shall we.  Over the course of this campaign you have trashed Hillary unmercifully.  You have had your thugs on the ground ripping up her signs, sending her people out of the voting places, lying and treating them like they are a disease. You have trashed her husband, a former President of the United States, rigged voting places and stuffed ballot boxes in caucuses all over the nation. You have used every dirty trick in the book to get your way.  You are now saying on the 20^th of May you will declare yourself the winner and this leaves the voters of Florida and Michigan where?  Since the committee meets on May 31 to determine what is happening with them it leaves them totally out of the equation?  You have gone out of your way to disenfranchise them and have cheated and used dirty politics at every turn in this election and now you want to get us to vote for you? 

Take this to the bank Mr. Elitist that there is no way that even IF you somehow steal the nomination that a true Hillary supporter will even look in your direction.  We are not idiots (as portrayed on the news media) we are people who work hard and yes, many of us are degreed people…(have you fainted yet at this revelation) and the simple fact is we do not like you, your tactics, politics, nor your bitter, racist, un-American and angry wife. 

You said you know there are hard feelings?  Really?  You, Dean, Brazile and Pelosi are the ones who created them.  Do you honestly think that one single woman or man who supports Hillary Clinton will support you after the way you have beat up on her and her loyal supporters?  Think again sir.

Here is my personal take on you MR. Obama.  You say on the 20^th you shall declare YOURSELF the winner.  Is this after you walk on water and raise the dead?  Is this when they give you a crown and a pretty robe to wear with access to the vault of crown jewels and lead you to your throne?  Then all your loyal subjects get down on their knees and worship you?  I sir will not be one of them.

To me my vote is precious, a freedom given to us by our American founding fathers and fought for by the blood of many of them. I do not take it lightly nor do I support a candidate just to be on the presumed winning team which you sir are not a member of. 

Based off of your lies, of Rezko, Ayers, Dohrn, Bittergate, Naftagate, Wright, Farrakhan, Million Man March, your terrorist brother in Kenya, your actions, your Chicago style politics and your anti-American actions of refusing to salute the flag or wear the pin as well as your racist attitude of whites, the anti American racist attitude of your wife I would never cast a vote for you.  I am not one of the blind sheep, will never follow you and would never so much as cast a glance in your direction.  Like the man in the restaurant in Indiana, I will wave you off as he later told reporters “I can’t stand him” and guess what I feel the same. I am an American first, a woman second, and a Democrat third.  I would vote for a true American even if it is out of my party before I would ever cast a vote for an un-American individual such as yourself.  Your actions have spoken a whole lot louder than your words. 

So, declare yourself the winner Elitist on the 20^th and watch how fast people make fun of you for this and you become the laughing stock of the country.  We shall delight here in Florida and in Michigan to watch you go down in flames if you ever do get to be the nominee because guess what?  Hillary does have a very good chance of beating the tar out of you and I am hoping that she pulls it off.  Go ahead and have your thugs riot in Denver because there are a lot of jail cells for them waiting.  We are not scared of these threats and we will in fact fight back and hard with our votes.  Get over it Obama, you will never be the president and you have set back relations between blacks and whites in this country over 100 years and have created a division in the party that will not be healed.  Be proud of yourself elitist as it has been all about you. 

With deepest sympathy for your failure…..NOT:

A Florida voter

FYI: U.S. Rep. Chris Carney announced Thursday that he’s backing Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary

1. The Office Season 1
2. The Office season 3
4. Gone in 60 seconds
5. Family Guy Volume 3
6. Family Guy Volume 5
7. Pirates of the Caribbean 1 & 2

I think those will keep us busy for a while. Anyhow, that's all I got for now.

Still doing lots of fishing, seeing lots of snakes, killing lots of snakes, lol. 

Chooi (chewy) chews EVERYTHING!  When we got him he was shy and sweet, now he barks, chews, bites, poos, plays with anytihng and everything he can get too.  Chooi chews, dandilions, shoes, socks, clothes, paper, toes, fingers, hands, ankles, hair, boxes, and his toys.  Although his favorites are paper, toes, fingers and his toys.   He's doing well with the potty training, OMG if it's this hard with kids, remind me not to have kids until I can successfully raise and train a dog!  

Pipkin (cat) has been leaving our yard,  I'm like a mother with a grown kid...I freak out if I see him outside the fence.  Last night when he was out I can to chase him down and it took forever to catch him, he was having fun so I felt kinda bad for bringing him in but I can't help it.  We've had too many cats run away.  

Ha! Pipkin has this favorite toy of his, it's a pink stuffed animal bear. It's just about beat to crap now b/c he plays with it so much, but now the puppy has adopted it as his own.  He plays with it now.  I feel bad for Pipkin b/c he kinda lost his favorite toy...to the puppy. 

I can't remember when the last time I updated was so, we had the yard sale and I made lots of money, =)  I bought Mason and I some new fishing poles so we don't have to use his dads anymore.  I got some cute clearance pants  =P   We got the puppy with the money too.  =)   

Mason and I are doing great!  Unfourtunatly school is going to end soon and he'll be moving ='(  And before anyone bothers to ask, YES! We will be staying together! Someone asks me that everytime we mention him having to move.  Also, I'm getting along a lot better with Mason's mom and sister since I got the puppy, they always want me to bring him over there.  Life is getting slightly better so it's about that time when the world falls apart on me.  

Am going to start getting ready to take my GED soon, an determined to take it after summer's over.  Then going to get a job.   Am going to have one last summer as a kid.  I'm going to try to spend as much of the summer as I can (if we're moved)  with my brothers and cousins and other family.  We're all almost grown and we'll probably be growing apart so I want to spend some extra time with everyone. 

It's taking me forever to write this blog b/c every ten minutes I have to check on Chooi and then play with him, lol.  Speaking of which I just took him for a walk lol. 

Well it's time for this blog to come to an end.  I'll write again soon. 

Haha, I just realized I quite writing as much when i got on my meds that help me not hate the world...wow...that shows what I always write about. =P

~Kat

(P.S. this update is for Aunt Dena! =P  )

If I don't multi-task, how do I find a few minutes for myself--to write, read, Google something of interest, blog, pray, journal, or study the Word?

In anticipation of Mother's Day, I'd like to propose thirteen ways that a mom can find five minutes of free time. While I love spending time with my kids, I still need some time alone. I have in the past combined some of these ideas and over the course of a month, was able to patchwork together free moments for myself each week.

Once you carve it out, use this free time however you wish--to do something productive, to rest, or to spend time connecting with a friend, or with the Lord Himself. All are valuable. It's your time to use as you choose.

1. Live simply. I have learned to agree to fewer commitments and activities. By doing less, I have more discretionary time for myself or to be available to others in emergencies.
2. If you aren't currently living simply, learn to say no to some new commitment that would otherwise suck up the only free time you carved out. Practice with me: "I'm sorry, but I can't at this time." (If you've already committed to something, however, I encourage you to see it through to the end.)
3. Hire a sitter. Save somewhere else--maybe skip the Starbucks a couple of times--and use that money to pay for an hour of sitting. Our Kindercare has a drop-off program that I used one year with my youngest. The cost was $8 for an hour, and I would just call and give them a heads up, and as long as it wasn't the middle of naptime, I could slip by and leave him for a couple of hours once a week.
4. Hire a "Mother's Helper." Children not old enough to babysit on their own can be a "Mother's Helper." You're still in the house somewhere to be on hand in an emergency, but the older child can occupy the kids. During the school day, try asking a homeschooling family in the neighborhood if you could hire one of their kids to entertain your young ones for a little while--maybe more than five minutes! How about an hour? Lock yourself in the bedroom. Sleep. Read. Pray. Flip through a magazine. Feel okay about this.
5. Swap babysitting or set up a Co-op. I know that even finding $16 extra can be hard--besides, you may have multiple children, like I do, and that can really add up quick! When my kids were little, some friends from church and I set up a babysitting rotation. There are lots of creative ways to trade sitting. Here's an article with several versions of co-ops. Here's another one. 
6. Order pizza and ask the family to eat without you for dinner one night (hand them paper plates). You can skip dinner and fast, pray, or swing by the park and go for a walk.
7. Put in a good DVD to occupy the kids and leave the dishes for an hour. One time won't warp the kids or summon the health department. Even once a week wouldn't.
8. Working moms--set aside a lunch hour. Pack a sandwich, block off a lunch hour at work on your electronic calendar, and lock the door to your office if you have one. A "Do Not Disturb" sign should make things clear, or you could simply leave the office and go for a walk.
9. Quiet Hour. If your kids are too old to nap, or don't nap very well but can be trusted alone in their rooms, send the entire household to their beds as you announce a "Quiet Hour." The kids can listen to soft music if they like. They can look at books. But they must stay in bed. Depending on kids' personalities or ages, Mom can at least sit in the hallway with her own book, or maybe even retreat to her own room.
10. Turn off the TV. Try weaning yourself from a few programs--it's amazing how much time you'll save. Leave Oprah off one day a week--or (don't hate me) stop watching altogether. Dr. Phil, too. And the morning news shows. Think of all those commercial breaks and entertainment spots they use to pad the hour--and think of how much time you'll save...for yourself.
11. Vacation Day. If those babysitting ideas don't pan out, ask for a vacation day. If you work, ask for a day off. Then instead of taking the kids to a children's museum or the zoo, let it be your day, just this once. Maybe your spouse could take the day off to be with the kids while you take off?
12. Wake up earlier, or stay up later. Unless you need sleep more than anything else, stay up a tiny bit later or wake up a bit earlier and set those extra minutes aside for yourself. Promise? It's easy for them to be absorbed into the morning shuffle, or lost while flipping on the 10 o'clock news.
13. Take a walk or jog. These are two activities that allow for "multi-tasking" without suffering too much. The repetitive nature of walking allows a person to think or pray or sing or daydream. A competitive runner training for a marathon might not be able to let her mind wander, but a recreational jogger or someone walking briskly and rhythmically probably can. Exercise bikes, stairclimbers, and other machines offer a similar benefit.

Think creatively, and there are lots of ways to get a few minutes to yourself--and do so without feeling guilty. We don't want to ignore our kids or shove them aside--it's the opposite. By taking a break and taking care of ourselves for a few minutes a day or each week, we'll fill up the tanks that motherhood obligations can strain and drain.

Find five minutes of free time for yourself today, and be sure to come back to the comments and share how you carved it out. We can all use more creative ideas to inspire us!

10. If you unbutton your bellybutton, your butt will fall off
9. Placing things in straight lines makes a room instantly look more organized
8. “Pink Stuff” is a secret Currey recipe that one must always bring to a potluck
7. Toothpaste takes the itch out of mosquito bites
6. When all else fails, put a doily on it
5. You can travel anywhere just by opening up a book
4. If it’s not bleeding or broken, you’re fine
3. During any confrontation, the most reasonable response is “I wouldn’t argue with you if I were wrong”
2.  “Uh-Oh” is a bad word
1. Mom has eyes in the back of her head, so you have something else coming if you think you’ll get away with trying to pee behind the pool instead of going inside the house.

That 2 of my little sisters have committed their lives to God just blows me away. I remember holding them as little babies, changing their nappies, burping them. And now they're getting baptised. I am very proud.

So proud that I have decided to humiliate them forever in cyber-space. I am going to post short stories about them over the next few days. True stories, naturally. We'll start with K:

My mum called me this morning to tell me a 'funny' story. K has a hamster. She loves it. Loooooooooooves it. She got home from school yesterday and put it in its ball so it could have it's daily wander around the house. But the back door into the garden was open. Oops. The hamster got out.

Oh no! I hear you cry. But fear not. Snuffles was fine. This time.

Mum asked my dad to close the back door. Which he did. Or thought he did. Actually, he didn't. Next thing you know there is a crash. It happened. Snuffles rolled out of the back door and smashed her ball. Where was Snuffles? Nobody could find her. K started to cry - or perhaps wail would be more accurate. The entire family searched (and so did the neighbours) for 2 hours, but couldn't find poor little Snuffles anywhere.

Awwww. Join with me, peeps: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

K was inconsolable. Mum gently asked her if she wanted to get another hamster, whereupon she cried even harder. "I don't know! I love Snuffles, but I want a hamster! I want MY hamster!"  In the end they went to the pet shop and got another hamster. They even ended up getting one that was virtually identical to Snuffles! This one is called Misty, if anyone is interested.

So the family all trooped home and set about making Misty comfortable in her new home. Then... Then my mum went out into the back garden. And guess who was sitting right by her feet! Can you guess?

It was Snuffles! Mum picked her up and went to tell K. K immediately burst into tears again. But tears of joy this time, people, tears of joy. Now she has two hamsters!

Click the link to the right to see more photos

On May 9 Russia marks the victory over Nazi Germany and the end of World War II with a massive military parade on Moscow's Red Square and celebration events all over the country. Victory Day is one of the biggest national holidays and Russians commemorate the 27(!) million victims the Soviet Union suffered in the deadliest conflict in history.
The point I want to make here is that despite the horrible sufferings and the truly huge number of victims, today Russia and Germany are probably the best friends internationally seen. Are there many examples of other countries who had been in such a deadly fight before getting close friends?  In the international friendship survey 2000 over 60% of Russians speak of their "friendly" attitude to Germans, although almost every family has lost its beloved members in the war. And many of the war generation are still there.

Unfortunately this is a rare example in the human history if we look at the war map of today...

The mystery of this "fast revival of friendship" between Russia and Germany may lay in the FORGIVING POWER of Russians. This rare nationwide quality can be seen also throughout the daily behaviour of the people (see more in my post about Russian Women here).

One interesting explanation could be the tradition of the Forgiving Day. It is the original Russian celebraton, combining both Christian and pagan traditions that takes place before some time before Easter. On this day people ask each other to forgive voluntary or accidential injuries and forgive each other with the words: "The God will forgive you!". Isn`t is beautiful?

I believe that this tradition worked out in the collective consciousness of the Russian people the patters of forgiveness. Despite the Western propaganda, one can see that Russian people are in fact much lees evil (or actually not evel at all!) and have a good forgiving heart and a good will.

In my own family this Russian-German realtionships worked out in a truly amazing way: German language is my favourite, I live in Austria (German-speaking), have many Germans as friends, my aunty is a Professor of German and my sister is married to a German (it means my grandma who had to fight against Nazis as a young girl, has a German grand-son-in-law). 

Every time I see the conflict between nations (like Arab-Israel, Afrika, etc.) I ask myself - IS IT TOO DIFFICULT TO FORGIVE? Thanks God, I am born Russian.

LOVE; axinia 

I am not the guilty, but I bear the pain.

I am not suicidal, but I understand it lure.

I am not ignorant, but I failed to know.

I am not the offender, but I bear the blame.

I am not religious, but I have faith.

I am not defeated, but I am forever changed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following story came through my email and sharing with everyone here:

This story begins when I was a child: I was born poor. Often we hadn't
enough to eat. Whenever we had some food, Mother often gave me her portion
of rice. While she was transferring her rice into my bowl, she would say
"Eat this rice, son! I'm not hungry."
This was Mother's First Lie.

As I grew, Mother gave up her spare time to fish in a river near our house;
she hoped that from the fish she caught, she could give me a little bit
more nutritious food for my growth. Once she had caught just two fish, she
would make fish soup. While I was eating the soup, mother would sit beside
me and eat the what was still left on the bone of the fish I had eaten, My
heart was touched when I saw it. Once I gave the other fish to her on my
chopstick but she immediately refused it and said, "Eat this fish, son! I
don't really like fish."
This was Mother's Second Lie.

Then, in order to fund my education, Mother went to a Match Factory to
bring home some used matchboxes, which she filled with fresh matchsticks.
This helped her get some money to cover our needs. One wintry night I awoke
to find Mother filling the matchboxes by candlelight. So I said, "Mother,
go to sleep; it's late: you can continue working tomorrow morning." Mother
smiled and said "Go to sleep, son! I'm not tired."
This was Mother's Third Lie.

When I had to sit my Final Examination, Mother accompanied me. After dawn,
Mother waited for me for hours in the heat of the sun. When the bell rang,
I ran to meet her.. Mother embraced me and poured me a glass of tea that
she had prepared in a thermos. The tea was not as strong as my Mother's
love, Seeing Mother covered with perspiration, I at once gave her my glass
and asked her to drink too. Mother said "Drink, son! I'm not thirsty!".
This was Mother's Fourth Lie.

After Father's death, Mother had to play the role of a single parent. She
held on to her former job; she had to fund our needs alone. Our family's
life was more complicated. We suffered from starvation. Seeing our
family's condition worsening, my kind Uncle who lived near my house came to
help us solve our problems big and small. Our other neighbors saw that we
were poverty stricken so they often advised my mother to marry again. But
Mother refused to remarry saying "I don't need love."
This was Mother's Fifth Lie.

After I had finished my studies and gotten a job, it was time for my old
Mother to retire but she carried on going to the market every morning just
to sell a few vegetables. I kept sending her money but she was steadfast
and even sent the money back to me. She said, "I have enough money.."
That was Mother's Sixth Lie.

I continued my part-time studies for my Master's Degree. Funded by the
American Corporation for which I worked, I succeeded in my studies. With a
big jump in my salary, I decided to bring Mother to enjoy life in America
but Mother didn't want to bother her son; she said to me "I'm not used to
high living."
That was Mother's Seventh Lie.

In her dotage, Mother was attacked by cancer and had to be hospitalized.
Now living far across the ocean, I went home to visit Mother who was
bedridden after an operation. Mother tried to smile but I was heartbroken
because she was so thin and feeble but Mother said, "Don't cry, son! I'm
not in pain."
That was Mother's Eighth Lie.

Telling me this, her eighth lie, she died. YES, MOTHER WAS AN ANGEL!
M -O - T - H - E - R

"M" is for the Million things she gave me,
"O" means Only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the Tears she shed to save me,
"H" is for her Heart of gold,
"E" is for her Eyes with love-light shining in them,
"R" means Right, and right she'll always be,

Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER" a word that means the world to
me.

For those of you who are lucky to be still blessed with your Mom's presence
on Earth, this story is beautiful. For those who aren't so blessed, this is
even more beautiful.

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY"