A mother’s heart….

Mother’s Day honors our moms, but there is another woman who has shaped the person I am today. She literally came into the world ahead of her time—born two months early, 3½ pounds, about the length of a ruler. Some doubted she could live, much less ever thrive, but the doctors told me that premature girls are fighters. And she was. Nestled in her incubator, this tiny baby rekindled my faith as her miniature hand clasped my pinky.

By the time she was three she could read books and later on in school she was a whiz at math.  But more than her brains was her willpower. Somewhere inside this bright, active mind, God had placed incredible motivation.

She would set goals and then find ways to go beyond them. She saw life as her own chance to try. She played four different musical instruments—the harder the better. She danced, played softball, and joined drama.

Even though we had moved a half a dozen times and she had gone to five different schools, she never complained. When we decided to move again, at the hardest time in anyone’s life: middle school, she readily agreed.

It was then I saw my daughter become a young woman of character. We needed her help getting re-started in our business and she became her little brother’s chief caretaker.  Even though she hardly had any friends and all she had known was 200 miles away, she kept looking ahead.

Now this amazing girl is a mother too. She has gone far beyond anything I ever achieved. She earned her Master’s Degree while juggling the needs of a newborn. She has somehow managed to balance the scales of motherhood and career as she and her husband raise my grandson.

It is not easy to be a 21^st Century mother. Money is hard earned and time is more precious. Tough choices are often placed at a mother’s feet. And this is where I am most humbled by my amazing daughter.  From the moment of her birth until now, she’s never had it easy.  She hopes to make a difference every place she goes, and with her goals she will indeed do just that.

But on this Mother’s Day, I’d like her to know that she is one incredibly inspiring woman. I’m blessed to call her my daughter and she's the most awesome mother my grandson could ever have.

P.S. The 21^st Century challenges facing today’s moms have higher stakes than what I faced as a mom.  For all of you amazing moms raising the children of our future, you will have my utmost respect, admiration, and prayers.  Honestly, I don’t know how you do all you manage to do.  Yes, there's some help from family, but I sense that you've teamed up with God. You couldn't ask for a better Teammate.