happy mother's day!!!

commentator: monica

oh "mother," was it ever hard to decide on a winner from our mother's day contest. all the mothers nominated are all admirable and awesome women! thanks so much for all the entries that made us have to close our computer screens and feign "allergies" while we were sitting at coffee shops the last few weeks. dang pollen! so difficult in fact was it to judge the winner, that we designated a few of our friends as our panel of judges to blindly judge the entries. seems like they still they had a pretty tough time. without further ado, the winner is.... (drumroll...)

.... melanie!

here's melanie's winning entry:

I’d like to enter my mom, Lydia, for the contest. As clichéd as it sounds, my mom is the greatest mom in the world. She was diagnosed w/ kidney disease 25 years ago. Costly medical bills practically wiped out all my parents’ savings and assets. Her deteriorating health and inability to care for her young children forced her to make the painful decision of giving us up for adoption. She had hoped that our adoptive parents (my uncle and aunt) could give us a better life in the US. Throughout all this, my mom remained strong in her faith. In the following years, my mom gained back her health and has continued in her ministry to serve the Lord and others that are less fortunate. My mom thinks the “borrowed years” are due in no small part to her faith. In the last couple of years, she has made several visits to the US from the Philippines. It’s been a treat for her to spend time w/ her grandchildren and make up for the lost time w/ my brother and myself. She came in April 2007 and almost immediate after her arrival, she fell very ill. She was diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure and requires routine dialysis. Mom accepted this and was very determined that the disease would not ruin the time she longed to spend with her children and grandchildren. At my persistence, she decided to stay in the US to continue her medical care. For me it was an opportunity to finally care for her. I saw it as “the disease that brought us apart finally brought us back together”. These days, mom maintains her health with a strict diet, exercise and keeping up w/ her dialysis appointments. She enjoys her days cooking, gardening and spending time with her grandchildren. Her beliefs, strength and perseverance never cease to amaze me. She has moved from having 3 appointments a week down to 2. It may not seem much to the normal healthy person, but for people living w/ renal failure, it’s nothing short of a miracle since the disease is practically irreversible…not to mention 3 extra hours of freedom from being attached to a machine.

Before I keep rambling on about my mom…I want to say thanks for considering her for this contest. Even if she’s not selected, I’m humbled to finally take the time to recognize what an inspiration my mom is to me.

we hope all the entrants get a chance to share the touching words they wrote about their moms, with their moms this mother's day weekend. And to all the moms in our lives, we love you!!! thank you for the love and care you provide to your children and to all of us. =)


//ed pingol
707.334.1468
info@edpingolphotography.com
edpingolphotography.com

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