Happy birthday, Jeannie Bean!

Today is my mom's 55th birthday.  Fifty-five!  What a great age to accomplish the way she has.  She hasn't had the easiest of lives at all times, but she's never let that stop her from being a mama first.  A friend of mine created a list of why she loved her mom as a birthday gift, and I'm going to steal her idea :)

Fifty-five things for fifty-five years:

1. You raised me to love Jesus.
2. You love to read.
3. All of those hours spent in the school library when you worked or volunteered there turned me into an ultimate bookworm, and I am so grateful for that!
4. You can pack an unbelievable amount of stuff into a tiny space--talent.
5. You are a list maker, and so am I.
6. You are a hard worker.
7. You always taught our Bible classes growing up.
8. You chaperoned pretty much all of my trips--which I may have never admitted, but I was always happy about.
9. You always made sure we ate together at the table as a family.
10. You made sure I did my homework and made sure education was always a priority.  You never let me give up on my love of learning.
11. You set high expectations for me.
12. We always listened to kids music in the car--and now as an adult, I can truly appreciate how much patience that takes!
13. You and dad were extremely involved in the youth group at church.
14. You took us on and helped organize our Mexico mission trips.
15. You aren't high maintenance, and you didn't raise me to be.
16. You let me have my birds.
17. You let Hunter live with you when he needed a place to stay--and you fed him and did his laundry.
18. You and dad drove us around Tech and told us your love story (it annoyed me then, but we will be doing the same thing to Arabella soon enough!)
19. You taught me (and Michelle and Melonie) to be involved and to help anywhere and anyway we could.
20. You always made sure we appreciated people.
21. You let me call you Jeannie Bean :)
22. You taught me how to shop! (much to Hunter's dismay...)
23. You always made sure we took family vacations.
24. We were a board game kind of family.
25. You helped me move in and out of everywhere I've lived.
26. You are so petite.
27. You always want things to be as good as they can be.
28. You cooked meals to freeze when I got married and when I had a baby.
29. You made me a cookbook of the meals you know I like.
30. You taught me the value of pictures.
31. You included us even at a young age in the experiences of life and death--you didn't shield it from us, but instead explained it to us which made it a lot less scary.
32. You taught us our manners, "please/thank you", "sir/ma'am".
33. You gave me an example of toughing out a marriage.  It's not always easy, but with God and love as it's foundation, you can make it work.  
34. Even when y'all were struggling financially, you made sure we never felt like it.
35. You let us spend the night with friends and let friends spend the night with us.
36. You embraced my nerdiness and recognized that I was "special"...
37. You supported me as a teacher--helped me get my room set up and taken down and came to the events I hosted.
38. You were willing to come to DC with me--and 35 of my 8th graders :)
39. You brought me with you and let me see you work in the teacher's workroom at church.  You planned, organized, and worked your tail off.  And by having me with you, you taught me how to do the same thing.
40. We never have to worry about forgetting something on a trip--we know you'll have it if we do.
41. You love my little girl.
42. You keep Mel's kids for her.
43. You let us go to church with our friends growing up--we weren't forced to have tunnel vision in denomination.
44. You made sure we played outside.
45. You taught me how to cook and how to bake.
46. You would do absolutely anything for me, Melonie, and Michelle.
47. You bought me my Baby Bullet!
48. You have keepsakes boxes for all of us.
49. Even now, when I come home to visit, we stay up talking ridiculously late.  But I love those conversations.
50. Your house will always be home.
51. You still want to take care of me when I don't feel good.  
52. You let me go to Prom with a boy you'd only met once.  And then you let me marry him four years later.
53. You make crawfish fettucini for us when we're all together--even though you hate it.
54. You sheltered me from a lot of things, but you exposed me to a lot of realities too.
55. You love me.

Fifty-five years, a husband, three daughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandkids later...
Happy birthday, mom!  Relax a little and enjoy a day that's all about you.  See you tomorrow!

love, angie