We Love You Sister Adkins

It was so important to me that we all could show our mom how much we love her on her birthday. She's the hardest person to shop for. The perfect gift will always be our presence but when that's not an option its a picture drawn by a grandchild...but we have yet to supply those. My mom is constantly giving her time, talents, and love to others. She is selfless and loving. She is understanding and forgiving. She is the one we try our best to make proud but she is patient with our flaws. (I'm not crying...you're crying.) I just really love my mom and appreciate her text messages requesting proof of life if we haven't talked in awhile. We really do have an amazing mother so we had to do our best to make sure she knew it and could be reminded everyday.

Derek is the only kid still at home (or even in California) and even he wasn't going to be there for her birthday! This isn't the first time this has happened but this is the first year we've actually thought of a way to make it up to her even a little bit. We agreed on the aesthetic aspects of the sign and chose our own scenery that would best represent where we currently were. David is in Idaho so a large flat field was very fitting. Ken is at BYU, we are in Washington, and Derek is at one his usual golf courses. It was so fortunate how the blues and greens went so well together! We didn't do much to be sure the backgrounds correlated but I'm glad they did! I honestly don't know how we're going to top this...except for a baby announcement from us or an engagement announcement from Ken or David.

The other blessing in this story is how we were able to get it to her. Do you know how expensive it is to rush ship an uncommonly sized, fragile object 1,100 miles??? Fortunately I hadn't bought the frame yet but I did find one at Target I was going to pick up on my way to get the pictures printed. Well after finding out the shipping cost I decided to find the frame in a San Diego Target and have the pictures printed at my father's regular Walgreens and I would use him as my boots on the ground to get it done! I had everything paid for and waiting for him at each store. He assembled it and had it ready in time for her to open the morning of her birthday. It worked out perfect, like, super perfect. I find these moments where the pieces fit so well to be such wonderful blessings. I'm glad my mom would acknowledge the tender mercies in her life so we are now able to recognize them in our own. I just really love my mom.