Everyone Needs a Mother Teresa

A couple of summers ago I found a wonderful quote by Mother Theresa. It really pricked my heart, it inspired me to try to apply truth like she did. I read several biographies about her and I was so inspired to be as kind while walking the walk of life. Also, she inspired me to not just talk the talk. So I put this quote up on a wall and I tried to institute it into my life more;

"People are often unreasonable and self centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives: Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you: Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow: Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough: Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and GOD. It never was between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa

Of course, I am still trying. But isn't it great that I have been trying! Imagine how horrible I would have been if I hadn't tried. The past few years have been particularly stressful with several health issues finally coming to the point where I just couldn't handle my normal level of stress anymore. My lifelong lack of sleep has finally been diagnosed as periodic limb movement disorder, of the significant type. I am now taking medicine for this and my body is not shaking the whole night as if I was running or swimming a marathon. When I awake, I actually seem to be waking up, not wishing the night was starting again! Praise the Lord. Maybe I will feel sane soon:) Also, my youngest daughter Elizabeth has been having serious issues with her health that are now unfolding and I will get into later. Suffice to say, there are a lot of doctors appointments and tests. It can be very stressful when you have a 50 lb. toddler who is as strong as your 18 year old sons and you are not a spring chick anymore.'

So back to the quote. It is so hard to be a godly woman these days! Unfortunately, we can't look around and follow the crowd, as most of the time they are going the wrong way. I tell the children, being a christian is like trying to go up on a down escalator, you must push and walk against the flow or you will be at the bottom in no time and not know how you got there!

Some days I really feel like letting go and relaxing and enjoying the ride to the bottom where there is no accountability to be like Mother Teresa in any way.

Talking about Mother Theresa, I have the blessing of having a Mother Theresa in my life. My mother T is a sparkling 80 year old mom of 12 whom I met when we first moved here. Someone wrote an article in the paper about our families move to the farm where we hoped to start new family traditions where my husbands family, his grandmother in particular, had lived over 100 years ago and had gone to seed. Teresa saw the article and she brought me a meal and spent time with me, encouraging me that we could make the move to the farm..She was such a sparkler and she came at such an important time in my life. I had just had Hudson and at 6 weeks of age I herniated my back, blowing a bulb out of a crack I had gotten falling down the stairs with # 6, and I was bedridden soon and having back surgery. When I woke up in the hospital my Teresa was there, sitting, waiting for me with a card and chocolates. She wasn't even from my church. She really cheered me up in my Vicodin haze. The thought of going back to a newborn and not being able to lift or do stairs was overwhelming, but she told me I could do it. She had faith in me, so I had faith I would make it. It took almost a year to recover from that surgery.

Here is happy Hudson, obviously suffering from his first few weeks of life being so tough:)


I was really glad that I had fixed up my bedroom nicely when we first moved in, I was seeing a lot of it. Ann, who was almost 13 at the time, ran the house like an adult nanny and Brewster Jr. kept his brothers in line. We were a family of 11 crammed in a 1400 sq ft house with a very small yard and it was invitation for hyperactive child overload for sure!Teresa has visited me several times since then, and each time she has been a blessing. When my husband was starting his new law practice and we were really not rolling yet, there would be the card with money at Easter time telling me to go get the guys some nice pants for the holiday. Or the box with some nice dresses and gift receipt from Macy's so when I recovered I would look good when I went out. I did go out and get 2 of my favorite dresses with that receipt, that I wear till this day. Teresa got 3 dresses which were too big for me, erring on the side of letting me take them back because they were too big, not too small, knowing I had just had my 9th child and might feel a little chubby :)When Elizabeth was born preemie and I had an emergency C section after several home births, she was there again. She worked at the hospital part time and would come have her lunch time with me and we would talk about how BIG GOD IS, and how he had given me such a precious gift. She told me funny stories about how she drove to a grocery store in upstate NY one day, and how, both ways, the car engine wasn't able to start, but she got the car there and back, up and down a big hill, to the surprise of her husband! Brewster and I were cracking up when she shared her wonderful funny stories of life growing 12 children in the 50s- 70's.( Here is a photo of Teresa's last visit to the farm!)
My Teresa just graduated from the local college last month, in time for her birthday. I really wanted to be there but lack of energy didn't allow me to go. I wanted to be there to yell, "GO Teresa- thank you God!!!", but I will have to send her a note instead. She was interviewed by the local TV station and she was her usually self, ending with, "The message is: if I can do it, anyone can do this!"". She still is an encourager in every way. When I am going through my quiet life of raising my children in this narrow path, when I think of her, how she raised her children with such gusto, and organization, I laugh. The way she ran her ship is not my style at all, but it worked for her and she loves to tell me that: "Whatever I am doing , it is working, so don't give up the ship".

God knows that I need some encouragement now and then, that is why I am writing. I have so much in my head, so many great thoughts and ideas, and I have no one to share with right now, except my own family. One of my favorite replies to a proverbial question I often get is, "Oh , you know, I am not as organized as you, that is why I can't {Fill in Blank}", to which I reply, " Oh , you can't lie on a sofa and throw up into a bucket?!". The reason I say that is because every time I feel like I am finally able to do this homeschooling/ parenting thing, God puts me on my back, just so I cannot take credit, or take over.

It really makes you think, who is really in charge? And, who should get the glory?
God, of course.
When I became a christian 27 years ago, I was awaiting the birth of my first born son. God gave me this verse, which was pretty unusual, as I really didn't often read the Bible that my great aunt had given me at my wedding. the verse God gave me has been my rope that I cling too, especially when it is back to the couch, or bed time.

"All thy children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be thy peace."

(Isaiah 54:13, Kelly from God version:)

the KJV says it like this,

"All thy children shell be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children"

God has made a promise to me, since the very start of our relationship, I am holding him to it!