Family Friday: Mom

Okay folks so I missed posting this on Friday--oh well. I will still call it Family Friday! I will note that I tried tirelessly to find a picture of my mom alone--I don't think one exists (well at least not after she got married). 

Heidi Ellen Brinkerhoff Shields

Again I get a chance to brag out the wazoo about my AMAZING mom. She is one of the most multi talented women I know. She had 8 children, a very busy husband, and a lot of extended family. My mom knows a little about what it means to be a mom. Each of her 8 children are unique and come with their ups and downs. Most of the time when I think of my mom it just makes me tired and I really don't know how she did or does it??  Like my dad I could go on and on for ages but I will just mention some of the things I love about my mom:

• She loves God first
• She is a master at making money stretch and balancing a checkbook
• She has learned that being frugal but enjoying life can coincide
• She puts her family first
• She is sooo creative. She sews brilliantly, she has a huge vocabulary, she sings with grace and sounds like butter, and she loves to read
• She enjoys entertainment, movies, tv, People magazine, and always knows what the stars are up to. She even knocked on Jennifer Gardner Afleck's door while visiting me in Boston.
• She has a VERY high pain tolerance, but also a very tender heart
• My mom should win a prize for patience, understanding, and parenting--though she would says she fails on all accounts-she deserves a purple heart or something for the battle of motherhood that she is going through
• My mom was pregnant for 6 years-enough said
• My mom kept her teaching degree current and is now a substitute teacher
• She is someone I can tell anything to and she will listen, she really wants me to be happy, she tries really hard to understand my situations, and she is learning with me.
• She loves her family and they adore here. She is the little caboose that her sister (11 years older than her) prayed into life.
• My mom has endured a lot of loss in her life: a brother dying, a father dying, and a son dying, as well as other losses.

And the list could go on!  One thing I will never forget about my mom is how she wanted the world for her kids. She and my dad didn't have much money when I was little but that never stopped her. She would sew the dance outfits of my classmates in my dance classes so that I can take ballet, toe, tap, and jazz. She would trade babysitting my piano teachers kids for lessons. She would do whatever it took so that we try out a bunch of different outlets and I am the person I am today because of that!

My mom made me take piano lessons when I was younger and I gave her a really hard time--in fact in my life to this day I don't think I've fought anyone harder on something. She insisted that I would thank her one day and I insisted that she was wrong. And I learned that mom's know best! I love coming home and playing the piano (the same piano I grew up playing on).  I hope that every time she hears me play it's like I'm saying "I'm sorry" for being so rotten to her. And I love it even more when my mom and sisters come over and join in singing!

God knew that I needed a certain mom. One who would love me to pieces, push me to be my best, allow me to fly, and keep me grounded!  I know God exists because he sent me to my mom!

Mom, I'll always be the first born in the wilderness!