BLOG HIJACK... Her Children Rise Up To Call Her Blessed

Hi. This is Faith (you know, mother of Ann, Jack and Lena, those grandkids that Mom is always writing about). This is a non-hostile takeover. I tried to steal the computer from Mom before she had time to post, but I missed. We, some of Sarah's children, wanted to tell you a little bit about our mother, from another perspective.
Last week I had the honor of giving a eulogy for a dear family friend. As I stood before the church all my words disappeared. All I could think of was how very blessed I was to have been raised by such a family. My mother and her friend Wendy parented their children in tandem. They read the same books to us, and fed our imaginary play with themes of Laura Ingles' prairie and Lewis' Narnia. They taught us that a good time came from good friends and not a high admission price. My mother encouraged us to explore God's love for us and Wendy taught us to find Him in the intricacy of every waterfall and flower. My mother planted God's word in our hearts around the breakfast table (while serving homemade pancakes made from the whole wheat she'd ground herself). She gave us Proverbs, one by one, drenched in the syrup of her love. Throughout the most difficult times of my life those ancient words of wisdom have crawled up through the anger or sorrow of the moment and her voice, speaking the Word of God has provided comfort and security.

Andrew (the only son, and establisher of this Blog) has this to say:
The best books are the ones you use. I have become well acquainted with books the last few years. As a graduate student, my profession involves a lot of reading; I guess you could say it’s my job. Of course I never would have made it here if my mother hadn’t taught me how to read, or, more precisely, how to love to read. If you follow this blog, you may remember the post “Isn’t Sarah Stupid,” (it’s also included in the book her wonderful friends helped put together) so you know that reading, and particularly reading out loud, doesn’t come easy to my mother. But I wouldn’t have known. She used to read to us all the time. Many of my fondest memories involve mom reading to us. On family vacations, for example, we would beg her to read to us until her voice gave out! And that’s the sort of person my mother is, she looks at a challenge and gives everything she has to overcome it, but, and I don’t think she would mind me sharing this, giving all she’s got isn’t always enough. Sure mom read out loud to us, filling our minds with wonderful stories and fantastic adventures, but there was one book she insisted we learn to read ourselves. Every morning, well before the sun, mom would get up and settle into her chair with a book so well worn that if you opened it wrong a rainbow cascade of highlighted sheets would flutter out. Mom would read this book to herself, and when we were old enough, she patiently taught us to read it too, because that Bible taught who she represents. So today I want to thank my mother with the words she used whenever I left the house. Mom, thank you for who you are, and for who you represent.

Elisabeth (the second daughter, the newlywed, the Masters' degree-in-one-year-earner, the survivor of cancer) was true to her paternal side of the family and was a bit too overcome by emotion and homesickness to write, but, as her sister, I can tell you that she is a living testament to all the wonder and dedication that our mother poured into our homeschool education.

Abigail (the baby of the family and the darling of Mom's heart) gave this gift to our mother:

There have been many times in my life where I sat back and thought, "WOW my mother is a wonderful mother who I am really lucky to have as a mother!" I was even happy to share her with some other people who needed a temporary mother or a replacement mother. However, it wasn't until I grew up that I realized just how amazing of a person she is.

I am proud to say that I would have been friends with mom. I know that I'm friends with my mom now but we all know that our mommy's will always love us special and can't take it back. What I'm saying is that my mom is the kind of person I would have hunted down at school and stalked like a crazy person just so I could be friends with her. It isn't just my mom's wonderful "mom" qualities that make her someone I love, it's the person qualities that draw my heart to hers.

My mom is a wonderful caring mother who stayed up with me when I was sick and taught me about loving Jesus and loving people. BUT, that's not all there is to my mommy. My mom is a wonderful person who has a fun laugh that sometimes makes her fall over and stays up past her bed time to talk to me about my crazy life plans.

In conclusion, I want to be friends with this woman and I want to be this woman.

We already know (because you've been reading her blog), that our mother has touched your life. Chances are, you feel like you know her as a friend. We, her children, are happy to share this Godly woman with you. And, I'm quite certain that, in actuality, it is we who have been blessed to have her in our lives.