She's Who I Want To Be

 Alana Bell and her sister, Lindsay Easley, write about their mother, Patty Easley.

Alana's first.....

If there was only one word to describe my mom, it would be amazing. This is not a word I use lightly as I am often annoyed at how overused it is for the most mundane things on Facebook (was your Chinese takeout really amazing??! I think not!) But my mom is.

 She is the kind of person who loves with all her heart, puts everyone else before herself, and always does what she thinks is right. If you have kids in the preschool Sunday school program, you already know these things! But you may not know that the GLCC Sunday school is only one of many major overhauls she has done over the years. When we were kids, she began teaching Sunday school in our small Woodbine Baptist church. She also became the Sunday School director and was involved with VBS. When we were in school, she was always there helping in the classroom, chaperoning field trips, attending every practice and sporting event, making sure we knew she cared and things were the best they could be for her kids. When she saw the sad condition of the building and textbooks at Brentsville, she made it her personal mission to make it better. Despite an intense fear of public speaking, she gave speeches at every school board meeting until they approved the changes her children and all the other students deserved. She became involved at every level, friendly with the administration, president of the PTA.

 When we went to college, she went back to work so she could pay for our education. When I had my babies, she was by my side every time because she was so supportive and calming and I just didn't want to do it without her. When I had to go back to work, she babysat my kids so they wouldn't have to go to daycare. And when she saw that the Sunday school program at our little Old Dominion Baptist church was struggling to keep up with a church that was growing up to be GLCC, she stepped in to make sure it was good enough for her grand kids.

 I could go on and on about all the wonderful things my mom has done for the people she loves and causes she is passionate about, but the one thing that drives all the others is her love for the Lord. Her amazing faith and peace in knowing that His plan is bigger than hers has been such an inspiration to me. I look up to my mom in every way but thank her most for raising me to know my Savior. My mom is a wonderful, caring, selfless woman and to me she truly is AMAZING!

And now, Lindsay's......

 I love my Mom for always being there for me, for staying home when I was small, for driving me everywhere until I could drive myself, for letting me have the distance to venture off on my own in the world. She is without a doubt the strongest woman I know. She took care of my Aunt at the end of her life and I believe it almost broke her...but it didn't, because of her faith and trust in the Lord. A faith that she has instilled in me and that guides me through my own life. I cannot think of a bigger compliment than "you're becoming your mother" because to me, that is exactly who I want to be.