Dec. 26: Joyeux Annive, maman...

This post is quite belated; for reasons which I shall explain in another post, I have not been able to access the internet on my own computer for some weeks now. But hallelujah for husbands, and more specifically, for husbands' computers--particularly when said husbands lend aforementioned computers to their computer-less wives. :-)
As you may or may not have noticed, there is a picture of a stunningly beautiful lady immediately to the right of this post: it's my mother, Christine, otherwise known to many as Faithy. She, besides being my favourite mumsy, is an AWESOME person. With her we five kids travelled the world, added hundreds of stamps to our passports, narrowly escaped perils during our many adventures, and somehow, though she never received a paycheck since the day she became a missionary 33 years ago, we never lacked for anything we needed. This was due, in great part, no doubt, to her great faith, determination, stamina, and craziness.
Now that I've grown up, sort of, and returned to her beloved South America, I've met many people who once knew her. They never fail to remember her, and for some reason, most of them remember my little brother and sister, though most admit to not remembering me. Hmmmmm.
Well anyway, they all break out into similar smiles when mom is mentioned, and immediately pull out some long account of some nutsy, crazy, and downright eyebrow-raising harum-scarum antic of mom's, that unbelievably met with resounding success. And they go on reminiscing, and not a single one of them has failed to list "dynamic" among the adjectives used to describe her. I can't help but agree, wryly. Mom is certainly very dynamic.
I bet I could write an ode or two about her, and there are so many memories that the thought of her conjures.
One thing about mom, though, that I wish to say here, is that I always knew that she had faith in me. In all of us, really. I went through some pretty difficult phases in my youth--I suppose most kids do--but in my mind, even when I felt I was reaching the limits of negativity and hideous emotions, I had this subliminal feeling that mom would weather it alright--she could take whatever I went through, and she'd still be the same. She never gave me the impression that I was causing her anguish or fear. She seemed to know that God would keep his hand in my life, no matter what ridiculous and stupid thing I would do, and that eventually God would bring me through whatever I got into, and help me glorify him through it all.
Not perfect, of course, but then--who could possibly stand to have perfect folks? Mom invited me into her confidence when I was young, and trusted me with some of her burdens, which made me feel needed and as though I really mattered. We prayed together, counseled together, she trusted me, and she never stood in my way when I wanted to try something different--she even helped pay for some of my crazy endeavours, ha!
Without her support and encouragement I probably wouldn't be here today. Yes mom, you're the best!
And by the way, mom's in Madagascar with a team of great people--meaning that they are simply awesome. And they need all the help they can get to reach the big red shoe-shaped island off the East coast of Africa! Remember that the harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few, and so is the cash, internet connection, fuel reserves, and postal system! Pray that they can all get their visa situations cleared up, because last I heard a couple of the heads there will need to leave their chosen place of service due to visa shortages. Pray those obstacles away, y'all--the souls of Madagascar are hanging in the balances.
Love you, mom! Happy Birthday!