I definately celebrate your BIRTH!! Happy Birthday Mom!

My sweet Angie Sullivan always does the nicest, kindest Birthday tributes to her loved ones and today I thought I would follow suite and let my Mom be my first ever Birthday Tribute!

For any of you that know my Mom you know I am one lucky gal. I was born of a wonderful woman. A Woman of Charity. A Woman of honor. A hard working Woman. A self sustaining Woman. A patient and loving Woman. A Woman I proudly call Mother.

Mom was the oldest of 11 children born to Les and Joyce Schroeppel in Ames, Iowa in 1954. She had to be one tough cookie to survive 7 brothers and 3 sisters and all the babysitting hours that must have meant.

I was born when Pat was 3 yrs old and Mom was in the middle of a divorce. She has always made me feel so special and like I was really wanted even though she was going through one of the hardest times of her life. She always tells me that I was her angel baby and that I was just what she needed to get through that hard time. I think she is just one amazing woman to have done it!

Little did my Mom know what she was getting herself into. Two very high maintainance children. I was the creative one.. always putting on plays and choir concerts for the whole neighborhood and expecting Mom to provide all the refreshments for the hoards of people that I had invited. Pat was the trend setter. He always had to get the latest and greatest shoes, bikes, clothes etc. But Mom always filled the need and provided what we felt we "needed" no matter what the sacrifice. Heck she didn't even own a car till I was 18!

My favorite life lesson that I learned from my Mom is she is a woman of Faith. I shared a bed with Mom till I was 12 yrs old. She would put me to bed and then do a few more things around the house before she retired for the night. I always faked asleep because the truth is I couldn't sleep till I knew my Mom was there by me. There were many nights that I would hear her prayers at a whisper. And here her petitions to the Lord for our family. Mom knows her Heavenly Father and she knows the order of prayer. I learned from her faith without her even knowing I was listening.

Mom was always a favorite of our friends as well as our cousins. People were drawn to our house because she brought love there. Ok and junk food too :) Still our friends every so often stop to visit Mom. Infact when I was on my mission, Jer even took her out a couple times. People love her!

Mom is the BEST Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Grandma and Friend around!

Mom I know I probably over shared for your liking but this is only a small part of what I know to be true about you and what I totally love about you! Thanks for who you are. Thanks for the lessons I learned through your faithful example. Thanks for loving me even though I am a brat. Thanks for being YOU because that is who I love!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Let yourself enjoy it! I love you forever. I like you for always. Forever, and ever my MOMMY you'll be!