All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my Angel mother.
~Abraham Lincoln
From Jennifer Allen
This is a tribute to my Mother Dear, the one held so
close to my heart. I share the story of a woman who went through many trials
and joys in this earthly life. She was a woman of deep Christian faith. She
desired above all to raise her three children to love and serve the Lord Jesus.
Her life was shortened by an early death July 16, 2010 at the age of 54. She
left behind a legacy as a Christian mother that deserves to be shared. Her life
is a testimony and inspiration that I desire to share with you. She was a
woman who gave us as her children all the time, attention, and love a mother
can. She was my mother hero. I look to her
example to guide me in the days ahead. The fact that she was even born into this world at all is a miracle due to the brave decision of my grandma. Without that decision I myself would not be alive today. It is a decision that has strongly influenced me in my view of children, the right to life, and adoption. So let me share...
It was 1955. Mary, a 15 year old girl thought on the news
she had to share with her mother and new step-father. To add to her tension,
she had no idea what the reaction to her news would be. Her mother had been, to
put it mildly, not a good mother to this point in her young life. The new
step-father had taken a disliking to her from the beginning and her news would
add fuel to the fire. It had to be done. It had to be shared, this news that
she was pregnant. The reaction to the announcement was difficult to say the
least. Mary’s step-father had issued an ultimatum. Mary needed to get an
abortion or be kicked out of the house. Mary’s decision was crucial to the
little one in her womb. She chose life. Leaving her parents soon after, Mary was
sent to a home for pregnant teenagers. There she would spend the next months
waiting for her baby’s birth. The plan was to give the baby up for adoption.
Shortly after a baby girl was born on July 21, 1955 Mary asked to hold the baby
she was soon to see no more. The nurse reluctantly agreed and left to retrieve
the precious bundle. Mary held her baby and looking down in her sweet face she
knew she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t give this baby up for adoption. Instead
she named her baby Deborah holding close the life she had brought into the
world. It was a day of great importance in our lives. For you see, that little
baby girl would one day become our mother.
Somehow God works in mysterious ways we can’t understand.
Mary’s mother came to visit and see her little granddaughter shortly after she
was born. Mary said Deborah was her “little angel sent from heaven”. Indeed she
was. Grandma Pauline quickly fell in love with the sweet smiling baby and
somehow her new husband’s heart was changed. Mary was allowed to come back
home. In the months ahead Grandma Pauline would care for her grand baby while
Mary chose to drop out of high school and support herself and Deborah.
A few months
later Mary had just landed a new job. She was to be a car hop at a local
drive-in restaurant. It was a weekend evening the day she started. Glenn was
sitting in a car with a friend and saw the new car-hop as she began that first day of work.
Glenn thought she was the cutest girl he had ever seen. He turned to his friend
and said, “I’m going to ask her to marry me.” Soon after they started dating and
Glenn made good on that promise. Six months later on May 5th, 1956
they were married. They started out on their young married life with Mary age
16, Glenn age 19, and one little baby, Deborah to care for.
Deborah, soon to be nicknamed Debbie, was as we were told
the nearly perfect child. She was happy, full of smiles, and rarely got in
trouble. She loved to make people happy, and that included her parents. In the
years that followed the little family grew, first with a younger sister born.
Then twins were born, a little boy and little girl. Sadly, Debbie’s little
brother died the day he was born. Several months later the twin sister came
home from the hospital and in that moment the little family was complete.
When Debbie was 4 her “step-father” adopted her. He was the
only Daddy she had ever known. Glenn took her on a car ride to try to explain
it to her. Debbie was just too young to understand and the subject was dropped.
She was to forget the words that day, it was hidden from that point on, and she didn't know the truth again until the age of 21.
Debbie’s home growing up was one of love and struggle. Her
parents lived on a meager income that gradually grew as the years went by. Most
of her younger years Debbie’s mother stayed at home with her children. Debbie
was often found playing dolls and playing house. From a very young age she
loved pretending she was a mommy. She never lost that desire. It was to be the
life work in later years that she poured herself into.
Growing up Debbie didn’t live in a home of practicing
Christians. Her parents took her to church on and off awhile growing up. On
occasion she would go to church reunions or Sunday school class with her
Grandma Pauline. Mom said she didn’t learn to say everyday prayers. She didn’t
learn to appreciate prayers before she went to sleep each night. In her
bedroom, right over her head, was a prayer that frightened her as a child
because of these words:
“Now I lay me down to sleep,
If I should die before I wake,
I
pray the Lord my soul to take.”
Debbie was afraid for a really long time that she really might
die if she fell asleep.
Despite attending church on occasion, Christ was not an
important part of her life. He was set in the corner, real, but not
acknowledged. At the age of 21 her life was about to change dramatically.
To be continued...
