My mom, Anicia, was a motivator. She was full of life and energy and was such an encourager! She was generous and loved people well too. Mom also had some rough times. We’re so thankful she credited God for taking her out of those times of sadness and giving her times of true peace even when times were tough. And she loved well. Whenever her “going home” anniversary comes around like it did a few days ago, we think of her and appreciate the many reasons why we miss her and her sweet love.

Mom loved to encourage me to write stories of my life with Tim and our children and the life lessons we’ve learned. There were a number of reasons she encouraged me to write. She loved to hear our stories and figured that it would be even better to be able to read them over. Sometimes, she even encouraged Tim and me to write a memoir, and one way that I am honoring her and her life is by writing one now.

It’s been a while since we’ve regularly posted on our blog. There are many reasons for that, but one of the main ones was our having a long, busy season as a military family moving and experiencing many adventures and challenges. If you enjoy tributes to parents or messages of thankfulness from a grown child to their parents, you can find one “Letter to the Editor” in Saipan’s newspapers on the blog post titled “A Moving Story Behind ‘I Know You Love Me, Mommy and Daddy.’”