Mom's 80th Birthday!

We presented Mom with a scrapbook of letters and cards from family and friends on her birthday on the 14th. (Elaine did a fabulous job on it.) Here is what I wrote to Mom.

Dear Mom,
I thank God that He placed me in a family of women of grit, tenacity, and stamina. I admire you for trusting God as you accepted Dad’s marriage proposal and moved to Brazil; living in a country where you did not know the language; traveling by bus to the church Dad was pastoring, staying at the house of a member while Dad would go make visits, etc. and having a smile as your only means of communication; living in someone else’s house and delivering your first born in a town where you were the only American woman; having Dr. Spock to teach you how to care for a new born child; having an audience for the first time you were bathing me (using Dr. Spock’s method of holding a child like a football on your arm); moving to yet another small town where all thought you were German; being left with no car while Dad travelled the state visiting churches; making sure I was safe at home when you ventured out on a stormy day in the station wagon taking a group to minister in another town, ending in an accident, when Dad was laid up in bed with a body cast for his broken leg after being hit by a car in Porto Alegre; strategically placing umbrellas, buckets, etc inside the house to keep things dry after a hail storm; walking from the house to the church pushing a stroller with from 1 child to 4 children (since our family grew from me to the 4 of us while we lived in Rio Grande) being walked, carried and pushed home; finding solace in a book while we were playing; living in a hotel with 4 little children; making grilled cheese sandwiches for Sunday night supper at the hotel; allowing me to go by train to GA camp on my 9th birthday with my GA group; moving to Porto Alegre where Dad would take you out driving at night to help you get used to large town driving; teaching Bible in the Baptist School we attended; hosting many people in our home, especially the choir from São Paulo who sang the Hallelujah Chorus in our living room; moving thru the Leroy’s 10 year old daughter, Rebecca’s death with them and me, also 10; moving thru 3 to 4 robbers attempting to enter our homes while we were in them (usually when Dad was away); knowing when I needed additional sleep to be emotionally sweet and kind; listening to the 4 of us as we did not want to go to Brasilia and then hearing and knowing God’s plan for our move to Goiania; seeing me thru my 12th birthday living in a hotel and my having hepatitis; Granddaddy and Grandmother retiring to the US; Granddaddy’s death; seeing the Fite’s and us thru Charlie’s death (8 years old); becoming WMU executive secretary of Goias; holding me after I had pitched a temper tantrum, soothing my emotions; studying with me as I cried every night during furlough when we came for my 2nd semester sophomore year in High School; sending Norma and me off to Escola Bandeirante for boarding school; continuing to be in tune with our needs even when we were so far away and coming to care for us even before we knew we needed you; helping me work thru A. Kathryn (boarding school teacher) telling me that I would not make it in college; preparing me for my move to the US for college; the wonderful note you wrote me thanking me for being the child you learned on; the Bible verse promises you sent me to the US with; the pants suit outfit you made for me to wear on my trip to the US; becoming an author for the Brazilian WMU magazines; your constant prayers for me as I moved thru a relationship you knew was not in God’s plan; your support for me when we told you Jay and I were planning to be married; moving thru the wedding of your first born, a move to a new field of service and experiencing an empty nest with Jack’s move to the US for college all within the summer of 1977; crying with me during the hardest times of my life thru God’s process of healing Jay’s depression; being spared your lives as you flew to Brazil in an airplane with a bomb aboard; being supportive thru our infertility treatment and attempt to adopt a Brazilian child; your confidence in God’s continued plan for your life after Dad’s death; studying computer science at the age of 59; moving to Rio and computerizing the Brazilian National WMU making it possible for them to type, edit and print their own magazines; retiring and caring for your Mom, relieving the burden your sister carried during your time of service in Brazil; moving to Florida and diving into service at your church, association and state WMU with special work with the Brazilian women of the State.
Mom, I can just imagine the sheer determination it must have taken to move thru just a few of these, and you have moved thru all of these with true grit, tenacity and above all faith in the Lord to see you thru each of the phases of your life. I love you and “stand up and call you blessed.”
Naomi