Service- Not Optional

Saturday night my mother was honored at a dinner for the Portland Promise Center for the volunteer work that she and my father have done there and their continued love and interest in the work done there.

It was a lovely dinner, graciously staffed by the youth who attend the programs at Portland.  There were several hundred of the most lovely people in this city there to show their support of the work and the staff of PPC. 

In her remarks, my mother told that before they married my father told her that there were three things that she would need to agree on- that they would always tithe, that they would always be involved in missions, and that she would not cook cabbage, and she was happy to report that she was faithful to two of the three.

Mother gave most of the credit for their involvement at Portland to my dad, but I’ve thought  through the week of the influence of my mother.  Growing up, volunteering was a given- if you live in a neighborhood, if you go to a church, if you believe in God’s call to love, than it was without question that you would would give time and energy to those things.  If someone is sick, you organize a meal.  If there is an event, you show up.  Those lessons were not lost on me, and I hope my own children will have that same sense of responsibility.

We are very proud of Nana and the way she has shaped us all as a family.