One of my greatest blessings...

...It was Mothers Day this past Sunday. And as I was thinking about my Mother I started reflecting on some of the things that I wouldn't have learnt were it not for her.
So I started a list and I thought I'd Share it:

10 Great Things I Learnt from My Mum 

1. How to read - that's a pretty special thing to have my mother teach me that, but she did, and did so much more than that in the 6 years that she homeschooled me. 
2. How to feed a crowd - mum was almost always okay with us kids inviting 3 extra people over for dinner...20 minutes before dinner was served. She'd cook up some rice, or make garlic bread out of hotdog buns, or do something to stretch the meal so that we could invite others over. This has given me a heart to show hospitality, and a skill to do it without breaking the budget.
3. How to set aside time every day for personal devotions - I remember time and time again walking past mum and dad's bedroom when the door was open and mum was sitting on the bed or kneeling beside it reading her bible praying, even working on memory verses. That is something that has stuck with me when I'm planning my day, I make sure to make time for time with the Lord. 
4. How to sing - I think some of this just happend from osmosis. Seriously. Sometimes when I sing the alto part to a psalm I hear mum singing it in my head (especially the psalms that we sang at meal times and bed times, something that I unconsciously picked up. She also just sang all the time, songs about anything and everything. Probably 50% of the songs that I know I learnt from hearing mum sing them. 
5. That writing thank you notes is important - there certainly were times that I dreaded the days after my birthday because I knew that mum would make me write thank you notes to the people who had given me birthday gifts. But after years of doing that, it became a habit. A habit that I'm so thankful to have. Because thank you notes are important to write, and it's something that I continue to be reminded of every time I receive a thank you note from my mother. 
6. How to drive a manual car  - Dad did a lot of the driving instructions when us kids were first learning to drive a car. When I was 19 and going back for my manual license though, it was mum who took me on my first drive, and most of the drives after that. And though pulling into the driveway was not the most successful drive of my driving career (mum may have lasting damage from that whiplash) mum was always patient with me and took me out again and again to drive our manual van. 
7. How to be a good listener - this is something mum often would do with us kids. She'd just listen when we wanted to talk. But I also saw her do it so very often with neighbours and church friends, and people who just needed a listening ear. She didn't try to fix their problems or offer solutions, she was so often just a listening ear which showed her care for people. She so often had an 'open door' policy in our home.
8. That family is important - This is something I learnt early on, from seeing her interaction with her parents and siblings and neices and nephews. And so often from her words 'don't you love your siblings?'. I grew to understand how important family is, and making the effort to get together with your family and love each other, love your siblings, and your parents even when you're grown up and don't live together anymore. Make family time special. 
9. That games are fun - Our family definitely went through stages of loving to play games together and other times mum would say 'who wants to play a game tonight?' and no one would answer. Sometimes I feel like I'm turning into mum when it seems like I'm the only one in the house who likes to play games, and I better know what it feels likes like when no one wants to play games with you after dinner. But she definitely taught me that playing games together is a fun way to spend an evening. 
10. How to make monkey bread - for as long as I can remember Monkey Bread has been a Blackwood Family Birthday Breakfast tradition. I remember many a late nights the night before someones biirthday mum would ask if anyone wanted to help her make monkey bread, and we'd make it together.

Sometimes I think I was the most privileged of my parents children. Privileged because I got to live with mum and dad longer than any of the rest of my siblings. Privileged because now when I go visit my parents I get them all to myself (which none of the rest of my siblings get anymore) For Mothers day this year I designed a picture for mum that read "Some of my greatest blessings call me Mum" - and it had each of her children's names below it. While that might be true for her, I know that it certainly is true for me, that one of my greatest blessings calls me 'Daughter' - and even further than that, she calls me her favourite middle daughter. I certainly am blessed to have a Mum who loves me as she does. Thank you Mum for teaching me great things, these 10, and SO many more, I love you my favourite mummy in the whole world!