Letter to God by a mother for her gay son

I've enjoyed listening to Becket Cook's podcasts. He's a celibate man who gave up the gay lifestyle 12 or 13 years ago after becoming a Christian (and that story alone is amazing). He has since attended seminary and has a popular podcast where he interviews many of the people from his former Hollywood life. But yesterday he told about a letter his mother wrote to God before his conversion, that he never knew about. His mother knew about his homosexuality, but she never condemned or nagged him and they remained very close speaking on the phone every night. His sister-in-law found the letter recently (mother died in 2016) and he reads it on his program. In the letter she claims many Bible verses for him and her, and lists about 12 specific requests including protection from HIV. If you have a child you're praying for who has left or never found the Christian life, perhaps you can be Becket's mom or St. Augustine's mother Monica. It's a beautiful prayer.

A Mother's Prayer for Her Gay Son - The Becket Cook Show - Omny.fm

From the web page: The Becket Cook Show

"The Becket Cook Show was created by Becket Cook to discuss relevant topics and to crush the lies of culture with truth. Becket Cook was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. After graduating from college, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of writing and acting, finding success in both. He eventually became a production designer working on fashion shoots for brands such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Gap, L'Oréal Paris, and Nike. Becket lived as a gay man until 2009, when he reluctantly agreed to attend a church service at which he was transformed by the gospel and gave his life to Christ. He also knew that homosexuality was a sin and that he could no longer live that life. Becket spends much of his time in ministry speaking at churches, universities, and conferences helping people understand this issue biblically, theologically, culturally, and personally. Becket graduated from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in 2017 with a Master of Arts in Theology."

A mother's love

I try to use Brave for my search engine, but occasionally I get thrown into an MSN site which feeds me all the latest dirt on celebrities. They seem to die awfully young--as was this announcement about a gay porn star who worked for oddly named studios--names I couldn't repeat here. In any case "a woman [who] identified herself as his mother . . . wrote, “Thank you for all of your kind words. [He] was a light in this world and he is now a light in Heaven…. He is also with all of his friends and family who went before him…. [When he died,] He was at someone’s home whom we don’t know where that was or who he was with. This is not a message of blame.” The announcement went on to say he'd been living in a medical care facility being treated for something not explained.

Really, life is hard on the wild side.

Pelosi gets a 100% rating from NARAL

"Church leaders have been pleading with Pelosi for years, inviting her to repent and return to full communion with the Church. But she has been unwilling to let Catholicism inform her worldview. Even when personally corrected about her pro-choice views by Pope Benedict XVI in a private meeting in which he reminded her of her duty to protect life, the Speaker remained unmoved.

In the press conference following their conversation, she argued that all males—implicitly placing the pope and male Congressional members on the same plane—should refrain from interfering with abortions: “I love the pope. I have the highest regard for the pope…. But I don’t think that a lot of guys should be calling the shots.”

In a May 2022 interview with The Seattle Times, she confirmed that she believes her own judgment trumps the Church when it comes to abortion:

The very idea that they would be telling women the size, timing or whatever of their family, the personal nature of this is so appalling, and I say that as a devout Catholic…. They say to me, “Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the Pope.” Yes I do. Are you stupid? . . . 

In 2021, Speaker Pelosi brought to the House floor and voted for the “Women’s Health Protection Act,” which codifies the right to abort a baby up until the moment of birth for any reason.

While delivering remarks to the House in support of WHPA, she condemned political forces that “don’t want in vitro fertilization” and “stand in the way of reproductive health and guidance in terms of family planning, birth control and the rest,” calling all efforts to limit such evils an “intrusion into the privacy of a family’s life.”

Additionally, Speaker Pelosi cited her Catholic faith as she voiced her support of this radical bill that directly contradicts Catholic moral teaching. She told the House of Representatives:

I come to this as a Catholic mother of five in six years and one week and with the joy that all that meant to us. But with the recognition that it was my husband and I – our decision. It was our decision. And we should not, in this body or in that Court, be making decisions for the women in America." https://catholicvote.org/public-scandal/

She may be many things, but she's not a Catholic anything.

 

Was my mother funny?

We were big fans of the TV show Closer and the character Deputy police chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, so of course we watched Kera Sedgwick in the premiere of Call your Mother last night. Underwhelming and not even particularly funny. Maybe even boring? Did you watch it? Lately I've watched 3 older episodes of Mom, now in its 8th season. I keep waiting. How did that show make it past episode 3 in season one? I had a terrific mom, but she wasn't particularly funny. Or so I thought. I'm beginning to rethink that.

Sneak peek at “A republic, if you can keep it”

It's a wonderful day to sit on the deck with a cuppa and enjoy the blue sky and rustling leaves with a good book. But because it's so lovely, the lawn crew has shown up and there's a very loud mower just a few yards away, so I'm back inside. Even after 18 years here in this delightful spot with mature trees and a creek, I'm still thrilled to have them doing it and not Bob.

I'm loving "A republic, if you can keep it," by Neil Gorsuch. In the introduction he introduces us to his roots and branches, some fascinating people. All of us should have to write a paragraph or two about parents, grandparents, great uncles, etc. and their challenges and contributions so we understand how we got here.

Of his mother (pgs 13-14): "My mother was brilliant and a feminist before feminism. Born in Casper, Wyoming, she graduated from the University of Colorado at 19 and its law school at 22. That was a time when almost no women went to law school. She studied and taught in India as a Fulbright Scholar and went to work as the first female lawyer in the Denver District Attorney's Office. There, she helped start a program to pursue deadbeat dads who had failed to pay child support, long before efforts like that were routine. Her idea of daycare often meant me [Neil] tagging along. She never stopped moving. When she ran for the Colorado state legislature, where she was soon voted the outstanding freshman legislator, she wore out countless pairs of shoes walking the entire district again and again. As kids, we just had to keep up. Later, she served as the first female administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington."

With a mother like that, how could he be anything other than a great lawyer and judge.

Thoughts on Mother and mothering

Sunday, August 25, was the 85th anniversary of my parents’ wedding. They died in 2000 and 2002, having celebrated together 65 years during the previous August wedding of my sister in 1999.  My dad wasn’t one to keep a diary, but he did jot things down in a little spiral bound notebook later in life, and he noted that on their anniversary in 2000 he took Mother’s ashes on a ride in the country on their 66th.  He never tired of driving the country roads even though he had done that most of his life to earn a living. After they’d both retired, he and Mom would sometimes take Sunday drives around Ogle and Lee counties just recalling the past, or enjoying the changes of seasons, or how the crops were doing, or which farms were being kept up. In fact, even when I was a child, Sunday afternoon “entertainment” might be driving to Iowa to look around. That certainly wouldn't have been my choice with 4 children in the car.

I’d also been thinking about Mom because a very old memory had popped to the surface during one of our Lakeside 2019 classes by Chef Stacy.  It was on home made pasta.  We didn’t eat a lot of pasta when I was growing up—our spaghetti came out of a can and would be for lunch--never dinner. I didn’t learn to appreciate pasta until meeting Bob’s mother, who made fabulous homemade spaghetti, with tossed salad and garlic bread.   But Mom was also trying out new things, and she must have seen an article on making noodles, because we went through a phase when we lived in Forreston of her testing out this new skill.  I remember watching her make it—the recipe is very simple, just flour, water and eggs.  She did her best, but the beef roast and noodles dish was usually a gooey mess.  Dad might have said something about it, and she dropped that experiment forever to disappear from her menus.  Stacy made it look so easy, I may try it, and dedicate the gooey mess to Mom’s memory.

In today’s meditation I read a letter from Concepcion Cabrera de Armida to her son Pancho (nickname for Francisco).  She died in 1937, and was a wife, mother, and writer in Mexico.  She apparently wrote about 65,000 of these little messages.  It reminds me a lot of what my mother would say to her children.

• Avoid the least quarrel and do not stop at any sacrifice to have peace in your home.
• It is better to bend than to break.
• With prudence, education and certain common sense, many troubles can be avoided.
• Oh, my son! Never forget that everything you are, all that you have and the happiness you now enjoy, you owe to the good Jesus who has loved you with such tenderness! From how many dangers he has delivered you!
• Be grateful, my son: recognize with gratitude the fatherly tenderness of God over you and demonstrate your gratitude by your actions, and never be ashamed of being a good Christian.
• Be dignified with everyone but never haughty.
• Keep on being honest under every circumstance.
• Do not soil your soul with business deals that extort your fellowmen.
• May your soul be always clean—poverty does not soil or shame one—and you will be happy.
• May your home, dear Pancho, be a model of Christian homes where the Lord reigns and a worldly atmosphere does not enter; where the peace and happiness that are born from the accomplishment of one’s duty, be settled there.
• Never spend more than you have, not even all that you earn; thrift helps marriages avoid a lot of trouble.
• But do not be avaricious; aim for a happy medium maintaining a decent and fitting social standing, not living in luxury, even if you become rich.
• Let the poor be considered one of your ordinary expenses, and God will not fail you.
• Don’t limit your piety to exterior observance but rather practice the virtues, being patient in adversity, resigned to the adverse events of life, because if we receive from the Lord so many goods, why should we not also receive the sufferings he desires to send us? (Magnificat, vol. 21, no. 6 p. 387-388.)

The gender gap is a mommy gap

It's not a pay gap, it's a mommy gap. A choice gap. "43% of highly qualified women with children are leaving careers or off-ramping for a period of time." ("Lean in" by Sheryl Sandburg) And I know this is difficult to understand, but a baby is a whole lot more fun than attending meetings, rushing to catch a plane, or listening to office gossip. So many women cut their hours, at least for a period of time, to enjoy their children rather than put them in day care or send them off to grandma's. That of course, means their salaries don't keep up.

I see my doctor tomorrow--she's only working 2 days a week since she had a baby last year. And it's her choice--it's an all female practice, and I think they are all doing that. Now if you want to study gaps, check out the difference the all female clerical staff who work full time, make compared to the doctors who are working 2/5 time.

Lucille Snodgrass, 1919-2019

I heard this week that Lucille Snodgrass,  the mother of my high school friend Nancy Snodgrass Falzone, had passed away.  She was living at Pinecrest in Mt. Morris, and we should all have a devoted daughter like Nancy—or even a good friend like my brother who visited her there.  Nancy and I used to ride horses together as children, so I remember Lucille and husband Bill who died in 1989 from their days on the farm on Mud Creek Road between Mt. Morris and Oregon.  I’d only seen her a few times in the last 50 years, but my memory of her is a sweet, beautiful, charming, classy gal who was a lot of fun.  I think her passing is the last of the “mothers” that I knew since the 1940s-1950s. I wrote this poem over 20 years ago,  after so many of the women I knew had died, although there were some, including my own mother, who were still alive.

The Mothers of Our Childhood
by Norma J. Bruce
February 20, 1997

I have filed a report
and sounded the alarm.
We are missing the Mothers:
They're nowhere to be found.

Strong women disappeared while
I was living away.
Perhaps a moment ago,
a year or a decade.

Housewife, retailer, artist;
teacher, farmer and clerk.
Secretary, volunteer;
No doctor, lawyer, chief.

Velda, Gladys, Marian, Mildred;
Rosalie, Rita, Rose, and Ruth;
Alice, Hazel, Ada, and Esther:
Born during the century's youth.

Finish this list of Mothers
while I go look around.
No, the veil closed behind them;
they're gone. We are alone.

When I searched her name, I found her wedding announcement on a genealogy page for the Freeport Journal Standard:

“10 Sep 1938 : Miss Lucille Moore, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Irvin Roy Moore, North Henderson road, and William Snodgrass, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Snodgrass, Mt. Morris, were united in marriage this morning at 10 o'clock at the parsonage of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Mt. Morris, the pastor, Dr. C. H. Hightower, performing the single ring ceremony.
       The bride was dressed in a boy blue dress with Alencon lace jackette, and her accessories were navy blue.She carried a bouquet of pink roses.
       The attendants were Miss Betty Peterson and Ralph Satterfield of Mt. Morris.
       After the ceremony the bride and groom left on a wedding trip to Omaha, Neb., and Denver, Colo.The bride's traveling outfit was a navy blue taffeta ensemble with rust accessories. On their return they will reside with the groom's parents on their farm home near Mt. Morris.”

I know a little bit more about Lucille and Bill than the parents of my other friends because Nancy kept a book of memories, and when she was 69, she put it all together with photos, and made a number of copies, of which I am the owner of one. It includes a wedding photo.  Nancy wrote that her mom was born September 9, 1919, so  she  almost made it to 100—which seems to be pretty common in Mt. Morris.  In addition to working alongside her husband on the farm she also worked at the Conover Cable Piano Factory in Oregon, then later at the Mt. Morris Cleaners

My Crazy Ex-girlfriend

I noticed a comment about the CW TV show "My crazy ex-girlfriend" (written, produced, and acted in by Rachel Bloom), so I looked it up and watched part of one episode and read the description (sort of a musical comedy). Everyone is in therapy or sexually confused. Millennials, I think. Is it just a big joke about the culture or is it leading the culture? However, the music is great.

So I watched 3 episodes and sort of got to know the very strange characters, watched an explanation of how the music was written, and then. . . begin to like it.  Then learned 2018 is the last of the series because it’s not doing that well in the ratings.

https://www.cwtv.com/shows/crazy-ex-girlfriend/i-will-help-you/?play=834fff6e-2c14-4185-bc6f-bc7d8816d1f8

White matter in baby brains and grey matter in mommy brains

A new study led by UNC School of Medicine researchers concluded that patterns of white matter microstructure present at birth and that develop after birth predict the cognitive function of children at ages 1 and 2.

"To our knowledge, this study is the first to measure and describe the development of white matter microstructure in children and its relationship to cognitive development from the time they are born until the age of 2 years," said John H. Gilmore, MD, senior author of the study and director of the Early Brain Development Program in the UNC Department of Psychiatry
.
The study was published online on December 19, 2016 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

White matter is the tissue in the brain that contains axon fibers, which connect neurons in one brain region to neurons in another region. White matter is critical for normal brain function, and little is known about how white matter develops in humans or how it is related to growth of cognitive skills in early childhood, including language development. In the study, a total of 685 children received diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans of their brains. DTI is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that provides a description of the diffusion of water through tissue, and can be used to identify white matter tracts in the brain and describe the organization and maturation of the tracts."  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161219200955.htm

--------------------------

"Pregnancy causes "long-lasting" physical changes to a woman's brain, with significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a study said today. Some alterations lasted at least two years, they reported but did not appear to erode memory or other mental processes." http://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/201216/pregnancy-causes-change-in-womans-brain-study.html

 Hmm.  I remember "baby brain" and I'm not so sure it doesn't affect mental processes.  Article appears in Nature Neuroscience 20,287–296(2017), and primary authors appear to be women--probably mothers.

My mother was ahead of her time

" 'Gamification' means turning something that previously was not a game (for example, learning to use a library) into one. The idea is that by adding fun to a previously dull task you can increase participation and learning." (ACRL, Keeping up with gamification) Ah ha! My mother was ahead of the curve on this one. Whenever she was assigning or teaching a new task she would say, "Let's make a game out of this." I was no dummy--I knew I'd be spending an hour or two of MY PLAY TIME wiping down stairs, mowing the lawn or digging potatoes. To this day I don't like games. But I pulled the same line on my children.

I'm not sure she how called it a game, but she divided our  rather large lawn on Hannah Avenue in Mt. Morris into four sections, and assigned it for mowing by our size, strength and age.  Eventually, as my oldest sister moved out, and my younger brother got bigger, I think the two of us probably took over most of that, and eventually it was all his. Until I found this photo of Stan mowing the lawn, I thought we always used a push mower.  When he and I were quite young and we lived in Forreston, she'd give us a tool and turn us loose on the yard to dig dandelions.  She'd sort of make a contest out out that, but also gave us a penny per plant dug up. There was no way to make snapping beans or pitting cherries into a game; we just had to suck it up and do it.  I don't recall ever being asked to help with canning; she probably thought that was too dangerous, or it was just easier to do it herself. 

 http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-children-need-chores-1426262655

Stanley mowing the "back 40" in summer 1953

Mother and child

What’s wrong with mothers these days?

Seems to be my week to rant about mothers. Yesterday is was mom walking across Tremont Road and using her phone on a gorgeous day outside ignoring her little daughter; but today, it was gorgeous mom, impeccable clothes, in 92 degrees, blazing sun pushing the baby stroller along Kenny Road (no shade) with her under one year age child practically naked with no canopy for cover. The sun exposure that causes melanoma is brief, intense exposure - a blistering sunburn. People in my neighborhood are in a great demographic--well educated, wealthy, married, beautiful homes, good schools--but that apparently isn't enough to develop common sense.

Update Thursday, June 11:
At the booth next to us at the Rusty Bucket were grandma and grandpa with their two adorable little grandchildren . . .grandma was talking on her cell phone and grandpa was scrolling through his messages. Kids sat there with nothing to do. Sigh.

How single moms make it

A mother replies to an article in the Washington Post about single moms. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/18/the-unbelievable-rise-of-single-motherhood-in-america-over-the-last-50-years/

“As a single mom left alone with two small children after my ex-husband left, I never used public welfare, educated my children in private schools through scholarships, and put myself through graduate school. One child graduated from medical school and the other is a dean's list student in college. The secret? They had a loving, nurturing and committed parent in their life who never missed a recital, lacrosse game, etc., even while studying for the bar exam. Was it hard? Absolutely. Was it impossible, no. With the help of lots of miracles, I was determined they would not be a statistic of their parents' faltered dreams. I didn't have the time/interest in dating and chose early on not to bring men around my two young daughters. I brought these two into the world and they were a priceless gift to me. As such, they were my top priority and remain so. Being their mom is my greatest accomplishment. If people looked on children more as a gift and treated them as such, the world would be better off.”

Caring for 2—a federal program for mothers and infants at risk

It gives me pleasure to report on a federal health/poverty/race program that actually is meeting its goals—Caring for 2.  I’d never heard of it, but came across the name on the list of referrals we use at the Pregnancy Decision Health Center where I volunteer.

http://publichealth.columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Public_Health/Content_Editors/Maternal_Health/Caring_for_2/Caringfor2_update_1pager_2011.pdf

Caring for 2 began in 1991 as part of Healthy Start with 15 test sites, and now has 105, two in Ohio, Columbus and Cleveland. Although I don’t believe it began as a race based program, it is now limited to African Americans, and in Columbus to specific zip codes. The mission was to reduce the high infant mortality rate; in Columbus this has certainly been successful (for those enrolled) with the infant mortality rate below the national average.

There seems to be a recent push to include fathers in the program (NHSA’s Where Dads Matter fatherhood program begun in 2007).  Who knew?  Actually the number one advantage for a poor or low income child is to have married parents. That and a job for dad, any job, will provide those parents with the opportunity to leave poverty behind.  No government program makes that kind of promise.

I can’t find anything current under Healthy Start that specifically funds promoting fatherhood, but did find a page of links.  It is mentioned in the national annual report, but is definitely a step child added during the Bush years. http://fatherhood.gov/for-programs/federal-programs-and-resources

California’s program includes a piece specifically for “dads” but marriage doesn’t seem to be a part of that. In fact, it’s not even mentioned as the biggest guarantee that a child won’t grow up in poverty. http://www.healthycal.org/archives/10425

Here is a state by state update on what is happening. Despite the success rate, or perhaps because of it, I was disappointed to read how some programs are being watered down with other issues, like fighting racism, because there are so many other avenues for that, and success has been dramatic by focusing on health and coordinating community resources already available.

http://www.nationalhealthystart.org/site/assets/docs/NHSA_SavingBabiesPub_2ndED.pdf

Healthy Start is currently funded at just under $105 million and authorized through 2013. Healthy Start was first established as a pilot program by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. The last reauthorization of the program passed Congress in 2008 and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008. The fatherhood component was added under GW Bush.

Change in Hourly Wages for men and women

“The economic struggles of male workers are both a cause and an effect of the breakdown of traditional households. Men who are less successful are less attractive as partners, so some women are choosing to raise children by themselves, in turn often producing sons who are less successful and attractive as partners.”

Source: "Wayward Sons: The Emerging Gender Gap in Labor Markets and Education," David Autor and Melanie Wasserman

A mother's arms reach around the world

Gary's foundation

Dan Quayle right again--Single Moms at Midlife have more health problems

Remember Dan Quayle--how he was ridiculed for taking on the Murphy Brown single mom story line about 20 years ago? Oh, the press had a ball with that--said he was too dumb to know she was fiction. Then a few years later, the research shows that despite the income and social class of the mother, children of single mothers didn't thrive as well as children in two parent homes with a mom and a dad. It turns out that Uncle Sam can't be a step-father--even for those kids who don't need any financial assistance and have educated moms.

According to a growing body of social-scientific evidence, children in families disrupted by divorce and out-of-wedlock birth do worse than children in intact families on several measures of well-being. Children in single-parent families are six times as likely to be poor. They are also likely to stay poor longer. Twenty-two percent of children in one-parent families will experience poverty during childhood for seven years or more, as compared with only two percent of children in two parent families. A 1988 survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found that children in single-parent families are two to three times as likely as children in two-parent families to have emotional and behavioral problems. They are also more likely to drop out of high school, to get pregnant as teenagers, to abuse drugs, and to be in trouble with the law. Compared with children in intact families, children from disrupted families are at a much higher risk for physical or sexual abuse. Link to Barbara Dafoe Whitehead's article.

This study done at OSU shows that later marriage doesn't reverse some of the negative health affects of single motherhood. It "was beyond the scope of this study to determine why unwed mothers in general had poorer health than others. But other research suggests it may be related to the high levels of stress and the poor economic conditions faced by single moms." Or maybe women who don't take care of their bodies when it comes to sex, don't take care of it in other ways?

Single Moms Entering Midlife May Lead To Public Health Crisis

Seems God was on to something when he created marriage for man and woman.

The adrenaline rush and Lara Logan

Two things came to mind when I read this story (op-ed really) about Lara Logan's assault in Egypt and her "come-back kid" attitude. The fearless reporter had only hesitated a bit after becoming a mother (after a tabloid type scrutiny of her love life and behavior).

"Surrounded by a frenzied mob in Tahrir Square, she was separated from her crew, severely beaten and sexually assaulted. Logan was saved by a group of Egyptian women and nearly two dozen soldiers who pulled her to safety. She promptly flew home and was hospitalized for days.

"Lara is utterly fearless," says veteran newsman Bob Schieffer. "She just has guts and courage under fire." He called her ordeal "just awful." CBS and Logan decided to make the sexual assault public last week after learning an Australian journalist was on to the story."The Price Lara Logan Paid in Egypt - The Daily Beast

When I was working in the veterinary library at Ohio State I learned that of all dairy cattle breeds, Holsteins grieved the least when separated from their babies--an emotional trauma even for a momma bovine which causes the milk to dry up. (The veal industry is what happens to the male calves removed from the cow's side and natural mothering instinct.) In Lara's case, not even a sweet, beautiful, healthy baby dependent on her for love and security could cause her to turn her back. She apparently didn't have the same emotional wiring that other women have who have chosen to stay home and raise their families.

And second, years ago when I was attending Al-Anon, learning the 12 steps and listening to other survivors' stories, I learned that there are people addicted to the risk taking behavior of others, and many of them are women married to alcoholics. This just horrified me--I'll go to great lengths to avoid the "thrill of a risk" like riding a motorcycle without a helmet or bungee jumping off bridges or mountain climbing on icy cliffs or even riding a Ferris wheel. But for some, it is a drug they desperately need to stay feel alive.

Combine those two and you have a woman who will return to the battle front to stand in front of cameras (and wave to her babies being cuddled by nannies or grandma who may or may not care by that time).

Why God made Moms

Childhood friend Jon Martin sent me this. And I remember his Mom. She raised two nice sons.

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2.. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet; maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

NOW YOU KNOW WHERE AND HOW MOMS ARRIVED HERE !