A Day to Honor Mothers

 

Top: (Brooks, Graham, Dad, Mom, Kristian, me, Russ, Tricia, Benjamin)
Bottom: (Hayes, Hannah, Jessie, Jenny, Landry, Carson)

A short post today, after a long, happy day spent with family to honor, serve and love the moms in our lives.  We sat around the table and visited and laughed and remembered and planned and, oh yeah, we ate!  We circled up, held hands and prayed before eating, asking blessings on the food we were about to eat and the time we were to spend with one another.  But first, I'll rewind about two hours earlier to the sermon at our little church.  The text was 1 Samuel that introduces us to a woman named Hannah.  Hannah was in an unfortunate situation.  You see, Hannah was married, but there was another woman in the picture.  She shared her husband with another woman.  If that wasn't a hard enough situation, it was made doubly worse because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb - she couldn't have children and she desperately wanted a son.  Her adversary, the other woman, would tease her and make fun of her because Hannah was barren.  You might think that Hannah would grow bitter, but you'd be wrong.

Hannah prayed and prayed, pleading with the Lord to give her a son.  She made a vow that if God answered her prayer, she would give her son back to God.  God heard Hannah's prayer and gave her a son.  She named her son Samuel - an appropriate name for it meant "God has heard."  Once Hannah had weaned Samuel, she made good on her vow, taking her three year old son to the priest, Eli.  She handed him over to Eli saying, "I have dedicated him to the LORD, as long as he lives, he is dedicated to the LORD."  Hannah was faithful and obedient.

That's not the end of the story.  God had great plans for Samuel.  He went on to be a prophet of the Lord.  He became a judge, speaking on behalf of God, turning the people of Israel back to God.  Samuel anointed Israel's first king - Saul.  Later, he would anoint Israel's greatest king - David.  When Samuel died, the whole nation of Israel mourned.  

Looking back, it must have been incredibly difficult for Hannah to follow through with her vow, but think of all that happened because a woman was faithful to the God she served.  We may not understand it, but God does indeed have a plan for everyone's life.  What should we do?  We should pray, and we should trust God for His will to be done in our lives and... in the lives of our children.

God has placed a great mother in my life.  A mom who lived a life of sacrifice.  A mom who is faithful to God.  A mom who pointed us to Christ.  A mom I deeply love.  He has also put into my life a loving wife who has been a great mother to our children.  A mom who prays and trusts God with her whole being.  I thank God for blessing me with a great Mom and for putting a wife in my life that is a great mom to our children.  Thank God for Mothers!  I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating (or remembering) your mother.

Mother's Day 2025

God has blessed us with great mothers and mothers of our children and today was the day to celebrate them and show them our love for all they do and for the godly mothers they are.  We prayed and feasted and enjoyed conversation around the supper table.

L to R (Mom, my sister Jenny, and Tricia)

We had quite a menu: pastalaya with green onion and garlic sausage, spiral ham, pot roast and rice and gravy, fresh roasted vegetables, boudin, zucchini cake and ice cream.  We pushed away from the table with taut bellies, satisfied not only with the blessing of delicious food, but in the knowledge that God has given us wonderful Mothers.

My niece, Elle and daughter Mary Grace, Jenny, Mom & Tricia

All six of my sister's boys were here, but one son, Carson, had already left at the time of this photo.  Russ and Benjamin were here, but Laura Lee was unable to make it.  We missed her terribly.

Last but not least, my wonderful wife and mother of my children with her young men, of whom she is so proud:

Benjamin, Tricia, and Russ

Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers Are To Love!

Mother's Day 2024.  It was a good day.  We enjoyed a church service honoring mothers and thanking God for the gift of mothers and the institution of Motherhood.  I'm so blessed to have a great mom, to have had great grandmothers, a great mother-in-law and a great mother to our children in Tricia.  Proverbs 31 women, for sure.  We gathered at our house for a meal and dessert and just sat around the table visiting, laughing and enjoying each others' company.

Russ and Benjamin were here to celebrate with Tricia.  Mom and Dad were here as well.  My brother, Kristian, drove in from New Orleans and my sister, Jenny, her husband, Brett and their six boys were here.  Jenny's oldest, Conner and his wife (celebrating her first Mother's Day), attended with their six month old, Mary Grace.

Russ, Tricia, and Benjamin

Many times we get so busy visiting and eating that we forget to take pictures to commemorate the event.  Not this time.  We got a few:

Benjamin, Mom, me, Tricia & Russ

It was a Mother's Day to remember!  We thank God for Good Mothers!

Here's to Mothers!

 

We had a big weekend!  We topped it off with a big celebration for Mother's Day today.  And you know what?  We were so busy visiting and eating, that not a single picture was taken.  I'm so disappointed!  How can this be?  Anyway, on Friday, we took photos that include two very important mothers in my life: my Mom (on right) and the Mother of my children (on the left).  Not pictured in my Mother-in-law, who is in Corpus Christi, Texas. 

As I sit and think about it, what in the world would I do without those women?  My mom raised me and my two siblings and put up with a lot of craziness from us.  I count myself to be so blessed and fortunate to have been reared in a two parent, loving, supportive home.  I cannot begin to imagine the sacrifices that mom made and continues to make for me.  There is no way to adequately thank her for it.  I love you, Mom!

And Tricia, the mother of my children.  I'm so blessed by God to have a spouse like her.  She has given so much to me and the kids.  She works tirelessly to give us her very best in all she does.  She is a Proverbs 31 woman.  I am also so fortunate to have a loving, supportive mother-in-law.  

Image Credit

I love you, Mom!  I love you, Tricia!  I love you, Mrs. Garcia!

A Day to Celebrate Mothers

Mother's Day 2022.  We started out by attending church.  It was a glorious morning.  Before we took off our "church clothes," I had the boys (Benjamin on left, Russ on right) sit with their momma and take a photo to commemorate the big day.  We ate a light lunch since we were planning on having a crawfish boil in the late afternoon.  Along with Tricia, Russ, Benjamin and me, Mom & Dad were coming and my sister Jenny, her husband, Brett and her six boys and a girlfriend of the oldest.

The crawfish came from our farm.  The were graded, big and clean...

Monsters!  We had three sacks of roughly 28 pounds per sack to boil.  Time to get the show on the road.

We added the crawfish boil seasoning to the water, along with corn, potatoes, onion and garlic and then dumped the first sack into the water.

In about 5 minutes, the first batch was done!  We got these ready to pour on the table and then readied the next batch to boil while we ate.

And here are the lovely honorees of the day.  My mom on the left, my sister, Jenny, in the middle, and my bride, Tricia on the right.

We poured them out along the long tables and the crawfish quickly started to disappear.  It was like magic.

Mom sat down and peeled crawfish after crawfish.  They were seasoned good and we visited while we ate.  It was a hot afternoon, but we were in the shade and a cool breeze would blow from time to time.

There's my sister getting into a crawfish pincher.

And my wife on the left eating some as well.

We thought we would have some left over to peel and freeze for etouffee, but we did not!  We ate every last one of them.  Once finished, we had room for ice cream and a lemon dessert.  We pulled our chairs around in a circle in the shade and talked and laughed and remembered funny things.  It was a very pleasant time.  We made some memories.  Before we knew it, the sun was sinking below the horizon.  What a great day we had celebrating some very special mothers!

Mother's Day 2021

Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. - Proverbs 31:28

We are truly blessed to have a GREAT mother!  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  We love you.

From Middle and then clockwise: Mom, my brother, Kristian, my sister, Jenny, my Dad, and me.

My kids are blessed to have a GREAT mom too!  Laura Lee had to work today, but Russ and Benjamin celebrated with Tricia.

Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 

Proverbs 31: 29-30

A Day for Moms

“Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: ‘Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’” – Proverbs 31:28-31

Sunday was Mother's Day - a great day to honor our Moms.  God created the perfect day for it with beautiful skies, gorgeous weather, and cool, comfortable weather.  We had church again outside and then rushed home to begin preparing the meal.  Here is my beautiful wife and mother of my children enjoying together time with the other men in her life.

Tricia and her boys (Russ on the left, Benjamin on the right)

The menu for the day was barbecued chicken and smoked sausage po-boys with sides of dirty rice, fresh green beans and squash, onions with sauteed mushrooms.  They were all cooked on the fire pit in the back yard. 

We honored three mothers - Tricia, my Mom, and Jenny, my sister.  They are all great Moms, for sure.  We spent the whole afternoon visiting, laughing, telling stories and remembering funny things from the past.  It is always fun to get together and just enjoy each other's company.

Patricia, My mom, and Jenny

Here is a photo of my mom and me!

My Mom and Me

Whether it is your mom or the mother of your children, I truly am blessed to have such amazing women in my life, and I am so thankful to God for His benevolence in allowing me to be associated with mothers of this quality.  Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day 2019

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Image Credit

Today after church we drove to Kinder and spent the afternoon with my Mom.  Just a quick post to say "Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  I love you!!"  God has certainly blessed me with a great mom.

How We Do Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a great day.  I've been blessed by God to have a GREAT Mother to raise me and to also have a GREAT Mother to my children.  We started off a day early in the celebration.  Tricia wanted a new rose bush - a hybrid tea rose called "Blue Girl."  After much searching, we finally found it at Natural Gardens here in Jennings.  It is called Blue Girl but is actually a very light pink.  Tricia appropriately wore blue to plant Blue Girl.

Russ and Benjamin got busy and dug the hole and prepared things so that their mom could get her rose planted exactly where she wanted it.

The rose was put into the hole and the hole was back-filled with garden soil, patted down, and watered.  I think this rose will really make Tricia happy!

On Sunday after church, we drove to Kinder.  Dad had prepared a big pot of crawfish etouffee and everyone came over to honor my Mom.  Laura even made it in from Baton Rouge.  Mom is on the right in the photo below, and I can truly say that God blessed me with a great mom.  I'll always be grateful for everything she's done for me. 

We ate, visited, took a few photos, but were missing Benjamin as he was out in the woods with his cousins.

What a great day!  But the day wasn't done.  What Mother's Day is complete without... potatoes and a potato gun?

My brother, Kristian, brought his potato gun in from New Orleans.  This thing is actually a potato bazooka or a RPG potato gun.  You unscrew the cap on the end and spray a bunch of White Rain Hairspray in the chamber.

Seal it up real tight...

Put the potato in the barrel and pack it in real good.

Put it on your shoulder, take aim and press the igniter button!

BOOM!!! The noise is deafening and the potato flies 100 yards, smashing into trees, the side of a barn or up and out of sight to the delight of all in attendance.  We had a real good time.  We had a blast - with or without the potato gun.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom and Tricia.  We love you both!

Happy Mother's Day!

Image Credit

Today is a day to honor Moms.  I've been blessed to have a GREAT mom.  I've also been blessed to have a wife who's been a GREAT mom to our children.  Here's a poem that I found online to put in our Church Bulletin that pretty much sums up how I feel about my Mom and my wife on this special day:

Thank God for Mother's Love – Anonymous

A mother's patience of a saint could only be by the hand of God.

There is no love, like a mother's love,
no stronger bond on earth...
like the precious bond that comes from God,
to a mother when she gives birth.

A mother's love is forever strong,
never changing for all time...
and when her children need her most,
a mother's love will shine.

God bless these special mothers,
God bless them every one...
for all the tears and heartache,
and for the special work they've done.

When her days on earth are over,
a mother's love lives on...
through many generations,
with God's blessings on each one.

Be thankful for our mothers,
for they love with a higher love...
from the power God has given,
and the strength from up above.

Happy Mother's Day

Proverbs 1:8-9

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

⁹ For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Today is the day that we celebrate and honor our mothers.  I've been very blessed to have a GREAT Mom!  She modeled servanthood, selflessness, love and lots of hard work to me and my siblings. Today we had an opportunity to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon enjoying a tasty meal and conversation and serving my mom and also serving my wife.
 

Me & My Mom

I have also been blessed to have a GREAT wife and Mother of my children.  The Youth Group at church today wrote a song and sang it to their mothers and then presented them with a rose.  Here is Tricia with our kids after the service ended, as they surround her and show their love and appreciation for who she is and what she does.

Laura Lee, Tricia, Benjamin and Russ

Happy Mother's Day!  I love you Mom and I love you Tricia!

A Tribute To Mom

Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers out there!  Happy Mother's Day to My Mom and Happy Mother's Day to the mother of my children.

Today was a good day.  We honored our Moms.  We called Tricia's Mom in Corpus Christi and talked to her and told her how much we love and appreciate her and then later in the day, my Mom and my sister came over to the house for a time of fellowship and food.

My Mom with Russ, Laura Lee, and Benjamin

In Sunday School, we departed from the Bible Study book that we normally follow and did an expository study on Proverbs 31.  I teach the Youth Sunday School class and we talked about how important this chapter was to them.  First, for the young ladies, it teaches them the type of woman they should aspire to be.  For the young men, it teaches them the type of woman they should court and marry!

After the Proverb goes into detail about the qualities of this remarkable woman, it says the following:

Proverbs 31:28-30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

28 Her children rise up and bless her;
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
29 “Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

My Wife with her children: Russ, Laura Lee, and Benjamin

In Sunday School we discussed the qualities of this woman being described in the text.  She is excellent, valuable, trustworthy and sacrifices of herself for her family. She does good for her family and is a hard worker.  She prepares food for the family, getting up early and staying up late, she is smart and strong.  She is compassionate and giving, making sure the family is properly fed and clothed.  She makes her husband a better man.  She is optimistic about the future and is kind. What a woman!

I am truly a blessed man because I have a Proverbs 31 Mom and a Proverbs 31 Wife!  

Happy Mother's Day, Mom and Happy Mother's Day, Tricia.  I love you both!

A Mother's Love

Who can forget Julie Andrews singing the following in The Sound of Music?:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

The Zac Brown Band sings a country song called "Chicken Fried," that in my mind is a decidedly Southern version of the same song.  Part of the lyrics go like this:

You know I like my chicken fried
Cold beer on a Friday night
A pair of jeans that fit just right
And the radio on
I like to see the sunrise
See the love in my woman's eyes
Feel the touch of a precious child
And know a mother's love.

You can click here to hear the song:  Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band

Now, we could probably debate about the health benefits of over-indulging in a few of the things on Zac's list of his favorite things, but there's no debating about the benefits of knowing a mother's love.  Zac probably should've put the Mother's love a little higher up on his list!  Stick with me for a moment while I tell you a brief story about an event I witnessed in the pasture the other day and I'll get around to my point in the end.

Last week when Tricia and Benjamin were watching Daisy give birth to little Bully, Tricia told me that a bird was squawking at them and thought she must have a nest in a tree nearby.  When I walked out there to see little bully, this is the bird that was squawking and carrying on:
 

A mother Killdee

I think the real name for this bird is killdeer, but for some reason we've always called them killdee.  Here she is now and she is not happy at all!  I told Tricia that she does have a nest, but it is not up in a tree.

She is very upset because she does has a nest of eggs, but Killdee lay their eggs right on the ground.  For some reason, they don't make a nest in a tree.  As a result their eggs (and the mama bird herself) are in a very vulnerable situation.

Stay away from my eggs!

I've zoomed in on the nest of four eggs that the killdee layed.  They are big eggs for such a small bird and they are well-camouflaged.  I almost did not see them.
 

The killdee's four eggs

The Good Lord has given them a good mechanism to offset this vulnerability.  When this mama has a nest of eggs on the ground and she senses danger from a predator, she'll carry on and act injured to draw the predator away from her nest.  She'll do anything to protect her young.  See below, she's acting like she has injured wings.  She holds them funny and makes lots of noise and moves away from her nest, making high-pitched shrieks and running on her long legs.  She's creating a diversion to distract you and lead you away from her nest.

Two injured wings?

The mama killdee is a great actress, flopping her supposedly injured wings...

And then fluffing up her feathers to make you think she's on death's door once she's led you far away from her nest, hoping you'll forget the its vicinity.  Since last week, I've gone out there everyday to check on her eggs and every day, she gives me the same routine. 

So why does she do this?  She does this because she loves her babies and will do anything, even if it means sacrificing her own life, to save her young from predators.  God has given her an instinct to preserve the lives of her babies.  It rained 3 inches night before last and 1 inch more last night.  Guess what?  She's still out there sitting on those 4 eggs, protecting her young.  What a great mom!

It is Mother's Day today and I began to think about the great mom I have and the great mom my kids have.  Similar to the the bird in the pasture, my Mom and my wife are very protective of their kids.  They want the best for them.  They nurture them, protect them and will "shriek and carry-on" if anyone tries to harm their babies.  They are self-sacrificing mothers who will do anything for their little ones.

God has truly blessed me to know a Mother's love!  Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  I love you!  Thanks for all you've done for me!