* It was a happy Mother's Day *

Of course, yesterday, Mother's Day, was good - I was surrounded by some of my favorite people. We were lucky to go to dinner at my brother Doug & Kimberly's house, and it's a fact that whenever you get to have Kimberly's cooking, you know it'll be yummy. In an funny, coincidental way, we had an orange meal yesterday. Kimberly fixed chicken with an orange sauce over rice, I brought a carrot casserole, mom made orange jello and we had orange punch. Even the rolls looked kind of orange to our amused eyes.

I was happy yesterday that I still have my son Mike around. He fills our house with music, pleasantness, lots of friends, and and his very cute laugh. My other kids sent cards and gifts including the beautiful corsage from Aaron and Aimee - their Mother's Day tradition that I love and appreciate. Suzie and Winston called and sang a bit of a song to me, and Becky and Pitt emailed (they're on a trip).

I have a really wonderful mother - she's an example of steadiness, dedication, righteousness, and compassion. And mom is one of the most cheerful people you'll ever meet. She laughs through phone conversations like no one else I know. She also keeps going in spite of not ever feeling well. Mom loves to talk and catch us up on events with the rest of the family. Because of mom we all know what everyone else is up to. She is the glue that holds our family together, and she loves each of her four children and our spouses and her 20 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren equally.