I wrote this about nine months after our first child was born.  It still is my heart and I want to bless all you mothers out there in the work you do!
A Tribute to My Mother
     In my life as I grew up, Mother was always something of a fixture and that is how I often saw her.  Just as you get light by turning on a light switch, so when you would get a skinned knee, Mother was there.  When I would wake up in the middle of the night with a bad dream, or get hurt feelings when someone at school said something that wounded me, Mother was always there.  It never occurred to me to wonder if she would have liked to be somewhere else, or if she would like to work at the job she used to.  I never questioned why she always had breakfast ready when I got up, or supper ready when Daddy came home from work, that was what mothers were supposed to do!  I felt that God must have given my mother to me instead of the other way around.  Now that I am a new father and am watching the making of a mother before my eyes, I have a greater understanding and a much greater appreciation for all that is wrapped up in the word mother.
     It had never occurred to me that it was a real chore to get up in the middle of the night with me and that the only reason was because you loved me.  I never realized the choice you made when you had us children instead of holding on to the world’s idea of a nice figure.  I never considered that maybe you would have liked to have a career outside of our home but you chose instead to do with a little less and in some cases to do without so that you could spend our childhood’s with us.  I never realized that headaches can hurt so badly and that you can’t just stop when you have one.  I never realized how scary it must have been to teach us children at home when you didn’t know some of the subjects that well.  I never realized that naps were just as much for mothers as for children, and often you needed more than we would allow.  I never realized that you don’t know everything and that you can’t be everywhere at once.  I never knew about late nights praying for your children and for your wandering son to come home.  I never realized the powerful example you set for us children, by your willingness to submit to your husband.  I didn’t know that you were setting the groundwork for us to submit to Daddy as well as to our heavenly Father.  I didn’t know about the weight of responsibility laid on you and Daddy, to teach us the ways of God.  You would always hug me so tight, and I didn’t know it was because you didn’t want me to grow up too fast, or that you knew all too soon, I would be gone.  Mother was always someone we came home too; I never thought what it must be like for her to see her brood grow up and go away.  I never thought about these things, they just were!  Now as I face the daunting task of father hood, there are times that I wish I could go back and be snuggled into Mommy’s lap, to hear her soft words of encouragement, and know that it will be OK. Â
     But now I am a Father, and am watching with new appreciation, the transformation of a young lady into a mother.  Not just a woman that bore a child but a mother, and all the bittersweet love that goes into the name.  And so I would like to thank the two mothers in my life; the one who bore me, and the one who bears my children, for all these things that you have done to take this cold and heartless world and turn it into a warm and loving home.  To me, heaven will be a greater version of the home Mother helped make for me.  Where Jesus is always there to comfort us, to wipe away our tears, and soothe our bleeding hearts.  He’ll hold us in His lap and let us listen to His beating heart.  Then, all the pain of life, the parts that even mothers can’t soothe away, will disappear as Jesus holds us close and echoes what all mothers have whispered, “It’s OK, your safe at home now, and I’ll always love youâ€!
Happy Mothers Day!
We are so thankful that the weather is warmer and that summer seems just around the corner! Here in Minnesota, when the daily temp gets up into the sixties, like is has for the last few days, we realize that the winter is finally over, even if we did have snow just a week and a half ago!
On a business note, here is a picture of the machine I made for the sharpening of rotary cutter blades. It involves two spin jigs, and a cross slide table from a machinist supply cataloge, a Delta variable speed bench grinder, two Cratex wheels, and the two blade holders I manufactured on my dads lathe. It takes me about 5 minutes to sharpen a blade with nicks in it and a little less for one without. I havn’t had too much call for it yet and I have yet to see if I have beaten the Stauffer stigma of being able to design and build things, but never able to market them. We shall see.