25 days of christmas

holy moly i am behind! i has saved my immediate family and my parents for last... and now it's five days till christmas! four kids, one husband, two parents.... doesn't add up! i'm going to try to do two a day to catch up.. wish me luck!

today i honor my mom and dad! this is an easy one, cause i have really great parents. my mom and biological dad divorced when i was a baby and my mom remarried when i was five. my biological dad's involvement in my life was sketchy, so i really think of my stepdad as my dad. he was there for me for all the things a little girl needs a daddy for so he has earned that title alot more than the man who technically made me. without further ado, the top ten reasons i love my parents!

10. they're super fun. i know alot of people don't exactly look forward to hanging out with their parents, but we have a blast! we play cards together (which can get very heated:) we eat good food, and we just laugh!

9. they raised us all to be responsible, compassionate, God-loving people. that to me is priceless. i can only atribute my sucesses as a woman to the way i was raised.

8. they are always helping someone. when i was growing up, we were the family that frequently had some other kid living with us who needed help. my mom was surrogate mom to many others. they were foster parents (to teenage girls none the less) and also spent several years with both sets of my grandparents living with them. that is true love. if i tried to write all the ways they've cared for others we'd be here all day :)

7. they love each other deeply. they've had their ups and downs over twenty five years, but they've modeled for us how to persevere and stay together when marriage gets tough. even in the hard times, we never doubted they loved one another. early in my own marriage, i tried to leave my husband. i packed my suitcase and went to their house. i walked in the door and my mom said "you better put that back in your car. you can stay here long enough to cool off but then you're going home. you vowed before God and your family that you would be married for life and you will not run home when things get tough." if she hadn't taken that stand (which infuriated me at the time :) i may not be married today.

6. they face life's challenges with quiet faith. the last several years have been really trying for them, from medical issues to financial ones. the thing that sticks out to me the most is that through it all, their faith has shone through. no matter what life hands them, they know they will be ok. i need more of that in my own life.

5. they're awesome grandparents. as soon as we enter the door, my kids rush my dad ready to wrestle. they know that grandpa will get on the floor and play with them. each year for each kid's birthday they take that chlld out for dinner and then to the toy store to pick out their present. with four kids, that means so much to them. many times my kids look forward to that more than their party!

4. they've supported myself and my brothers no matter how many bad choices we've made (and we've made alot!) when i was a 20 year old, unmarried, college student i had to tell my parents i was pregnant. i expected fireworks! my mom calmly looked at me and said "we'll make it work". they embraced eli (even though he was not what they probably had in mind) and supported us emotionally as i had a baby, finished college and eventually got married. the funny thing is that eli turned out to be an awesome man and my mom could see his potential long before anyone else did. she's always said he was a "diamond in the rough" and she was right!

3. i always go to them first for parenting advice. they raised five kids who have all turned out to be great people, so who better to ask? they taught me how to discipline, how to love, how to say you're sorry to your kids when you're wrong!

2. they are friends with their kids. now that most of us are grown, we have a developed a close friendship with our parents. i can only hope that when my kids are grown we'll have the closeness i have with my parents. my mom is my best friend!

1. they love the Lord with all of their hearts. they serve Him, they honor Him with their lives, they are examples of His redemption. their lives are their testimonies. they inspire me, they love me, they are the reason i turned out ok:) i love you mom and dad!