My Mother's Day Gifts

Geary gave me these colorful tulips in the morning.   I love them! I've had these vases for five years and just now noticed, with this picture, that they are very similar to the vases in the painting on the wall.   Repetition is a good design strategy!

Geary also made it possible for me to not have to cook at all for the whole day!  It was so nice and I really appreciated being pampered like that.

Noah wrote a beautiful encomium and presented it to me in a pretty folder.  An encomium is a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly. The scan might be difficult to read so here is a typed version:

In Honor of Mothers

Mothers are worthy of praise.  Mothers are God's gift and he teaches us to love and obey them.  God gives us mothers to show His love made for us.  My mom is Jeana Linhart.  She is a funny mom, who loves my brothers and me in a crazy way every day, especially with her joking tone.  In addition to being a funny mom, she is also a creative mom who supports our family with her jewelry business.  My art talents come from her.  The smell of paint drying makes me think of my mom, of different projects she creates, of bright colors in each room, of fetching brushes and paint cans, making me feel happy.  Now I shall hope to follow my mom's example and to be fun and creative for my friends and future family.

You better believe that I puddled up while reading that.  And I'm so tickled that my son associates the smell of paint with me!  

Toby made this beautiful watercolor painting for me.  It's actually quite tiny, about four inches square.  I love the soft colors and his hand drawn flowers.  This one is definitely going in a frame!  He also made a little booklet with fill-in-the blank style sentences about his mom.

My mom's name is Jeana.

My mom's favorite color is orange.

My mom's favorite thing to eat is mac-n-cheese with heat.

For vacation my mom would like to go to Black Butte.

The prettiest thing about my mom is her smile.

If I could give my mom something special it would be flowers.

The best thing about being a mom is making beautiful art.

The hardest part of being a mom is taking care of us.

I love it most when my mom plays with me.

I love seeing myself through the eyes of my children.  It's especially honoring that they each praise my creativity and desire to make beautiful art.  That is a deep part of my identity and so affirming that they see that in me.  My favorite thing to eat is not actually mac-n-cheese with heat but that answer cracked me up!

Miles made this hand print butterfly in church.  He also crawled into bed with me in the morning.  When the big boys came in with their gifts we had this conversation:

Miles:  Is it your birthday?

Jeana:  No, it's Mother's Day.

Miles:  Well, Happy Mother's Day!

He jumped onto my stomach and wrapped his arms around my neck.  Then he patted my face.

Miles:  I love you!  You're my mom!  I say, "Dar!" to you!

I love that little goofball.

I was also surprised by this gorgeous flower pot left anonymously on my doorstep with a sweet and encouraging note.  

I am a very blessed woman!