My Mom

I've decided that every once in a while, I'm going to pay tribute to someone I admire and/or wish to emulate. It seems only fitting to start with my mom, especially since Mother's Day is coming up this weekend. So here it goes.

My mom is the third of five children. She has three sisters and one brother. She grew up mostly in Northern California. After high school, she attended Brigham Young University, where she got an associates degree in secretarial technology. She married my dad and shortly thereafter started her family. My mom is the mother of six children, five boys and one girl. When she was expecting her sixth child, she finally earned her bachelor's degree in history from the University of Texas at Dallas.

My mom has successfully raised six children in the gospel. All are currently living their lives in accordance with what they were taught. Four have served honorable full-time missions, one is currently serving. Five have married in the temple. She is the grandmother of 12--five boys and seven girls. She has served in various church positions, including Relief Society President and Primary President.

That is a list of many of her accomplishments, as trite as they may sound to her. I think that the calling she has served in all of her adulthood--that of visiting teacher--is the most important one besides mother that she's ever had and one that she has set a perfect example in. As far back as I can remember, she has never missed a month of visiting the sisters she is assigned. I've rarely met another individual in Relief Society who has a 100% visiting teaching record.

Through these callings and simply living the gospel, she has set an example to me of the kind of person I ought to be. She is selfless and always serving. She is kind and caring. She is strong and courageous. Always through hard times, she relies on scriptures, faith, and prayer to pull her through.

My mother has been and still is a wonderful example to me. She truly patterns her life after the Savior, and I hope I can follow her example.