Barely weighing all of 2 lbs 5 oz,  at birth, she greeted her world with love. Being the 5th child of 8 and the only premie in her family, in 1936 she truly was a miracle baby. Growing  up poor in a house full of love, she had no idea how poor they were, just coming out of the depression in the rural South in such hard times in America. Everyone was poor back then each family helping one another. There was no name brand clothes, or shoes, you went to school in handmade clothes, or hand me downs, but you were clean, loved, and fed.

Her Father, passed away when she was only 6  years old of TB an illness that really took over during that era and took the lives of many. He was a cotton farmer, and a Baptist preacher. His widow, My Grandmother now left to raise 7 children alone with number 8 fast on his way. She never remarried at all, she raised 8 wonderful  Christian children alone. Three boys, and 5 girls, she too was a remarkable woman in her own right, my Grandmother.

Weighing just a little over 2 lbs as I said earlier my Mother, she needed some extra care, encouragement perhaps growing up. Many prayers went up for her in that she would catch up with children her age and live a normal life. Let me tell you, she not only caught up to her own peers in school but excelled and was one amazing woman, child of God, Mother, sibling, friend, neighbor and was there to help all heaven needed, my Mother,  She grew up with a lot of love for her siblings, and was very close to her Mother.. She married young  just 18 and had her first child at 20, a baby girl, that would be me.  Sic and a half years later a baby boy, my only sibling. She would stop with the two children due to health issues that were life threatening from giving birth to my brother. Raising children from the 60’s into the early 80’s and coming from a very small area, growing up poor, she shared her stories with her children. In hopes to teach them that love out weighted money every time, hands down.

Little did she know that one of those two children would be a child that challenged things, was a rebel in a way for her own reasons.  But, she kept right on showing love, kindness,  and patients to her first-born, no matter the trying times.. As she watched her daughter grow into her adult years, they became the best of friends. Which proved to her all she had gone through with a daughter that was both headstrong, and rebellious, her love, kind spirit, and patient heart paid off.  She had gained a best friend and witnessed her own daughter following in her footsteps. We shall call her a proud Mother, for sure.

Thinking of my Mother today, it is coming up on the 8th year of her death this month. I want to always share her, her life, her spirit,  the love she always gave so easily no matter how others treated her. As well as  the kindness she showed not only to her family but way beyond that. She got off to a rocky start at a little over 2 lbs at birth, and was  very thin all her life. But, she had a heart so big and endured a lot in her 73 years of life, never complained to anyone about anything.  She just smiled each day just thankful to have it. She talked to God that I know for sure, I heard it many times over, and they had a personal relationship.. One she would tell her children about, time and time again, as she tried to always lead them in direction of God and His word every time.

I started my Facebook page on January 11, 2011 just three months after her death. I wanted and needed to find a way to keep her memory alive while a filled a void so deeply I was not sure which way to turn after her sudden death..She taught me so much, she was my best friend, and life as I knew it would never be the same for me again. Thus far it has not, yet because of her love for me I can go on each day knowing one day I will see her again, Praise the Lord. I want to share goodness, love, hope, and inspiration too, just as she did all the 73 years of her life here on this earth. She left behind her two children, myself and my brother. Her two grandsons my boys that she loved so dearly. Also three amazing great-grandchildren that were her heart, my grandchildren.

I hope that one day I can be half the woman my Mother was, she is missed daily by so many, and loved more than words could ever say.  The photo I share one of her childhood memories in those cotton fields in Alabama.  That amazing I called Mom started her life March 23, 1936 and will never die, she lives on in me, my children and so on. “Love is stronger than death”  will ever be.

I love you, Mother!

Debbie