My greatest blessings from God in this life apart from Himself was my parents. I had an amazing Dad and Mom. They both taught me many things but the main thing from my Dad was diligence, a strong work ethic, and a general toughness in dealing with life. My Mom was the source of all of my spiritual upbringing and the charactder trait of faithfulness. My mom was the most faithful person I have ever known. One of of the things that she would say all the time to us kids was, “you can do anything that you set your mind to.” She had quite a few different “sayings” that she would repeat often in appropriate places. You could almost predict what she was going to say by the surroundings and circumstances, and if you ever said something was too hard then you got a full lecture. I won’t say my life has been easy, but it sure has been easier than many different people that I meet. It is a huge advantage in life to be well parented. Here are a few pictures of her, beginning with when she was married at the age of 15, an early family picture, of her with great-grandkids, one taken a few days before she died, and concluding with me putting some dirt on her casket. My Mom was a great lady, servant of the Lord, Mom, wife, and grandmother. She lived such a full life it is hard to feel sad that she is gone now with the Lord.