"Happy Mother's Day Mom!" May 10th, 2009

This blog is dedicated to my mom Wanda for Mother's Day! Wow Mom, you have been celebrating mother's day for 44 years. I looked up some history on the origin of Mother's Day. First of all I think it's important to say that a woman came up with the idea. Imagine that! Below in the article about Mother's Day it becomes clear about how powerful the influence of one woman can have on so many. In the United States Julia Ward Howe suggested the idea of Mother's Day in 1872. (She wrote the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic). It was Anna Jarvis,who succeeded in introducing Mother's Day in the sense as we celebrate it today. Anna graduated from the Female Seminary in Wheeling and taught in Grafton for a while. Later she moved to Philadelphia with her family. Anna had spent many years looking after her ailing mother. When her mother died in Philadelphia on May 9, 1905, Anna missed her greatly. So did her sister Elsinore whom she looked after as well. Anna felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. Now, she intended to start a Mother's Day, as an honoring of the mothers. In 1907, two years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis disclosed her intention to her friends who supported her cause wholeheartedly. So supported by her friends, Anna decided to dedicate her life to her mother's cause and to establish Mother's Day to "honor mothers, living and dead." She started the campaign to establish a national Mother's Day. With her friends, she started a letter-writing campaign to urge ministers, businessmen and congressmen in declaring a national Mother's Day holiday. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds. As a result of her efforts the first mother's day was observed on May 10, 1908, by a church service honoring Late Mrs. Reese Jarvis, in the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May. Mom, Thank you for always being available to me. Thank you for always taking the time to listen to me and for speaking into my life. Mom you have been a Mommy Eagle in my life. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 32:11 "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings...." The Eagle is the only bird which flies directly into a thunderstorm. Turbulent winds cause the eagle too fly higher...Mom, you have taught me to embrace the turbulent times with integrity and to rely and trust in God. You have directed me to God's word and prayer during those times. And because of that I have been able to fly higher and rise above those things that I thought were too difficult for me. I love you Mom, Bigger than the Sky! Love, Shelley