Early this morning, my youngest son asked me to print a project that he had been working on feverishly for days.  He had taken the time to pull it up on the desktop so that I would not have to wait.  As the printer began it’s work, I grabbed the first sheet and started reading the following….

“The person in my life that inspires me most is my mother. Obviously, this is because I am her child. She influences me a lot every day because of her faith in God and how she loves and cares for everyone. She will always go out of her way to help someone if she can. Another reason I admire her is because she is a humble person. One example of this characteristic is when she has work to do, she will help us kids before she takes care of her responsibilities. Another reason, is because I can always go to her for advice, and she is someone I can talk to. She is good for this, because she has experienced some bad things. For example, she knows what it is like to lose someone close to you. Overall, I admire her because she is a very kind person. She can be too controlling at times, but that it why she is my mom. I like her because she loves God and all of my family and when someone does wrong, it is okay, she always forgives.”                                                                                              

My kids call me the “Mother Falcon.” I think this is a pretty cool nickname. This came about from some show about falcons on Animal Planet. It is interesting that the mother falcon will go to great extremes to protect her young from predators. She will hunt vigorously early in the morning and at dusk to provide food for her chicks. She is fast and furious when it comes to protecting her nest and territory. My kids think they are pretty funny when they call me this, but I’m so thankful that they notice my serious commitment to my God and family. They understand what I think is important in life, and I hope that they will demonstrate these same values when they have kids. One day, if I live long enough, I pray that my grandchildren will come up with equally impressive (and comical) nicknames for their parents…and I’m going to laugh out loud.