Mothers Day.....

Mothers Day is just around the corner!!!!! I got the dreaded phone call yesterday afternoon, the one where you answer the phone and your not really sure who it is. When you realize it's a member of the bishopric and you wish you would have let it go to voicemail... your first thought is crap I'm getting a new calling, and then you realize NOPE it's WORSE. I have to speak in Sacrament meeting.... UGH! I don't know what it is about this time of year, but it always seems I get called on to speak on or around Mothers Day. So no surprise, I chose to use the talk "Mothers and Daughters" by M. Russell Ballard.

Preparing the talk has had me thinking a lot about my own mother and the other women in my life who have guided my path! I have a few I would like to thank!

MY MOMMA: She has an unshaken testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She truly is the one person who held our family together through faith and prayer and sweat. We never had to question whether we had her love, respect and support! She has also carried me through many of my own trials. (love you momma, thank you :))

My Sister KELLY: Kelly has been through many trials that no woman should ever have to go through. Yet, she kept her head up, forgave and moved on with her life with hardly ever a word of complaint. Kelly is who I turn to for advice, because I know she will give it to me straight and put me in my place if it calls for it. Kelly is who I also turn to for a good friend and a fun time! (love you sis!)

My Sisters RUTH and FERNIE: You may not be my sisters by blood, but you have apart of my family for as long as I can remember! I turn to you for fun but appreciate the way you have both made me open my mind, look at the world around me and take myself a little less seriously. I also appreciate how you have always had my back :) (love you both sooooo sooooo much!)

Sister PATTY DURBY: Sister Durby taught me in the temple prep classes right before I went to the temple for the first time. It was just me and her and her testimony then has stuck with me throughout my life. Sister Durby truly is a woman of God!

LYNDSEY ESTES: (Sister Durby's daughter): has been one of my best friends throughout my life as a teenager and as an adult. As we grew up Lyndsey married and now has a beautiful family! However, she always took time to talk with me and give me advice and love me as her own sister! Her gentle kindness made her a valuable friend! (thank you Lyndsey)

SISTER RIRIE : My mission mom! You are a woman full of grace and quiet dignity. For the 18 month I was in the mission field she was there to give encouragement and hugs just when they were needed. At times those hugs felt like they came directly from my own mother! You are the kind of women I want to be! (thank you for your love!)

"MOTHERHOOD IS NOT WHAT WAS LEFT OVER AFTER THE FATHER BLESSED HIS SONS WITH PRIESTHOOD ORDINATION. IT WAS THE MOST ENNOBLING ENDOWMENT HE COULD GIVE HIS DAUGHTERS, A SACRED TRUST THAT GAVE WOMEN AN UNPARALLELED ROLE IN HELPING HIS CHILDREN KEEP THEIR SECOND ESTATE."

-ELDER MATTHEW COWLEY