Thank you so much for praying for my family! This past week has been hard and teary, but filled with sweet memories nonetheless. We got home late Tuesday night and I worked most of the day on Wednesday, so this is the first opportunity I’ve had to catch up on here.

The funeral was simple, filled with fun stories and centered around Christ, which are all things I’d say about my grandpa too. So, it fit Tapa perfectly. My mom stayed back with my grandmother to get things settled there and she and Nama will be flying back here tomorrow night. So, I’m looking forward to some time with my grandmother.

And today, is a very special woman’s birthday as well.

She’s laughed with me, cried with me, traveled with me and played with me. She’s where I get my awful stubbornness and my blonde-ish hair. She’s got an awesome sense of humor and shares my love of romantic comedies and shopping.

I’m talking about my mom. She’s my business manager, my confidant and my friend. She’s the first person I go to for advice and hard as I try, I can never keep secrets from her. I love giggling over stupid movies with her, going out for “quick” shopping trips that end up lasting all day with her and calling her with a brief question about dinner and we end up talking for an hour.

Mom is always singing random songs that she only knows half the words to and she’s got one of the best voices I’ve ever heard. She’s quick with the hugs and rarely calls any of her kids by our names – instead, we’re “sweetie” and “honey”.

She’s the bestest Mom in the world.

And, she sends me emails like this after a long, hard, emotional week for us and her especially:

I love you, Mom. You always know how to cheer me up! Happy birthday!