Tell Us All Why You Love Your Parents.

[seoulsearch]

Hey everyone,

Having drawn inspiration from another thread in which I was able to speak a bit about my adorable Mom and Dad, I wanted to ask all of you out there why you appreciate your parents and what memories stand out most to you.

I know this may be a sensitive spot for those who may not have the best relationship with their parents and I pray that God will heal those relationships and bring other people into your life who can help you with those wounds.

I just thought that with Valentine's Day just around the corner, it might be nice to talk about why we love other important people in our life besides a significant other (especially for us singles who don't have one.)

I love my Mom and Dad for, literally, a million and more reasons... but here are a few things that stand out:

1. They adopted two foreign children into their family and have never differentiated between us and our brother (their biological child.) They still have a soft spot for orphans, as my Dad is retired but works at various part-time jobs because they support a missionary team in India and want to help build a new orphanage.

2. They make a great date! The last time they came to visit, we went to see Avatar. And my parents still hold hands in public.

3. They are just too cool--at 50 years old (this was a few years ago ), my tiny, 90-pound, church-going, only-heard-her-swear-twice-in-my-life mother got a tattoo of a small butterfly on the side of her leg. I was in college at the time and they stopped by my apartment... she started rolling up her pant leg and said, 'Kimberlea, guess what I got?" And I was like, "NO, NO, NOT my mother!!" I mean, I don't even have a tattoo, and have no plans on getting one! My parents, youngest brother, and his girlfriend had all walked into a tattoo parlor together... my Mom was the only one who walked out with a branding. I always tease her that a Harley and full sleeve can't be very far behind.

4. They raised me with a strong Christian background, sending me to Lutheran schools, which I hated at the time, but appreciate more and more as I get older.

5. My Mom occasionally sends me little notes in the mail with drawings (neither she nor I can draw to save our lives, so it's a bit of a joke between us) of things they've seen or encountered... one time she sent me a picture she'd drawn of Sponge Bob because the last time I went to see them, I got hooked on a Bikini Bottoms marathon... (so much better than all the other shows on TV and THEIR version off bikini bottoms!)

I told her that parents often hang their children's drawings on their refrigerator--I now hang my mother's drawings on MY fridge instead!

6. My parents are never afraid to say, "I love you." I love you back a hundred times more, Mom and Dad!!!

Please feel free to share some things about your favorite people in your life as well.

 

[seoulsearch]

*sighs*

Apparently no one else but me loves their parents??

 

[Stand_Up_4_God]

I love my parents! I know they aren't the best, haven't ever been around really, etc. but I love them! God woke me up around 2 am one morning this past week, and spoke to me about them. He said DO NOT give up, keep trying, keep fighting, keep going, witness, testify, everything no matter the cost or effort it takes. While I don't have any idea where my dad is, maybe God will open a door and I can eventually find him, I don't really have contact with my mom, but when I do, to keep going with her. To be bold by compassionate towards her and telling her about God and His word.

My grandparents, I love them so much, owe them everything, and can't praise God enough for them! My angels sent from Him! took my sis and myself in, raised us as their own, took care of us when we were sick, made sure we had everything we needed no matter what, oh the list is endless, I'd have to write you a book or a whole collection of books about them!

Anyhow, I love them and my parents as well, no matter what, and I'm always going to be here for them no matter what! God bless!

 

[seoulsearch]

I love my parents! I know they aren't the best, haven't ever been around really, etc. but I love them! God woke me up around 2 am one morning this past week, and spoke to me about them. He said DO NOT give up, keep trying, keep fighting, keep going, witness, testify, everything no matter the cost or effort it takes. While I don't have any idea where my dad is, maybe God will open a door and I can eventually find him, I don't really have contact with my mom, but when I do, to keep going with her. To be bold by compassionate towards her and telling her about God and His word.

My grandparents, I love them so much, owe them everything, and can't praise God enough for them! My angels sent from Him! took my sis and myself in, raised us as their own, took care of us when we were sick, made sure we had everything we needed no matter what, oh the list is endless, I'd have to write you a book or a whole collection of books about them!

Anyhow, I love them and my parents as well, no matter what, and I'm always going to be here for them no matter what! God bless!

Thanks for your post, Stand Up--it made me smile. I admire you for continuing to hang in there, and yes, God bless grandparents, as they are wonderful as well!

 

[Stand_Up_4_God]

No, thank you. It's an honor to tell others what God has done! He changed me from a bitter, hate-filled, chronic-depression, self-pity type person, into one so full of love, joy, compassion, a fire burning, passion driven, desire type child of His! The bad things were removed, and blessed tenfold and then some glory hallelujah! I'm in total awe of God's majestic, mysterious ways constantly!

 

[imoss]

I'm here!

I love my parents. My mom and dad had a relationship I always wanted and didnt think it possible that I would find it. It started out really really rough but my mom stood up for herself and did not tolerate abuse (taught him how to treat her so to speak) The first 6 years were alot of bad times, but the next 30... wonderful! After 25 years together my dad would still chase my mom around the house trying to pinch her butt... we were like ewww gross but deep down we loved that they loved and flirted with each other and showed their feelings. We never questioned where they were in their relationship as our family was very open with love and with disappointments and discussing & hashing out problems. I never (well except once when i was 5) worried about them divorcing cause I always knew where they stood. They would slow dance to 50's tunes on saturday nite. I remember my mom made my dad learn the computer. It was when she'd started brusing but didnt tell anyone. Worried the cancer was back & dad would have to take care of himself she taught him how to online bill pay... She'd yell FRED dont leave your brain in the kitchen, get in here and learn this. He'd get mad and say he dont need to know this .... (swearword)... but she insisted and taught him. My dad was the worst at paying bills before but since my mom passed away he keeps up cause mom had them all scheduled for him. She taught him just months before she died. They had the kind of relationship where my mom was the rock. She was ill but so strong to keep dad from falling apart. When things happened my dad cried and my mom was strong. man I miss her. Dont worry seol search you will find what your parents have, and so much more! I thank God for my husband who absolutely loves me and lets me know... unequally yolked goes farther than faith. When you are with a boyfriend who doesnt love you as much as you love them... well, you know it. Whether you want to admit it of not. I think the wonderous thing about the relationships of your parents, my parents & my husband & I are that the love is not one sided. Thats so very important not to settle for someone just cause you sooooooooo love them. I thank God for unanswered prayers in that regard because my wonderful husband was in my future & I could have... would have settled for someone who didnt love me like I loved him if only he would have asked. Thank you LORD!!

 

[seoulsearch]

I'm here!

I love my parents. My mom and dad had a relationship I always wanted and didnt think it possible that I would find it. It started out really really rough but my mom stood up for herself and did not tolerate abuse (taught him how to treat her so to speak) The first 6 years were alot of bad times, but the next 30... wonderful! After 25 years together my dad would still chase my mom around the house trying to pinch her butt... we were like ewww gross but deep down we loved that they loved and flirted with each other and showed their feelings. We never questioned where they were in their relationship as our family was very open with love and with disappointments and discussing & hashing out problems. I never (well except once when i was 5) worried about them divorcing cause I always knew where they stood. They would slow dance to 50's tunes on saturday nite. I remember my mom made my dad learn the computer. It was when she'd started brusing but didnt tell anyone. Worried the cancer was back & dad would have to take care of himself she taught him how to online bill pay... She'd yell FRED dont leave your brain in the kitchen, get in here and learn this. He'd get mad and say he dont need to know this .... (swearword)... but she insisted and taught him. My dad was the worst at paying bills before but since my mom passed away he keeps up cause mom had them all scheduled for him. She taught him just months before she died. They had the kind of relationship where my mom was the rock. She was ill but so strong to keep dad from falling apart. When things happened my dad cried and my mom was strong. man I miss her. Dont worry seol search you will find what your parents have, and so much more! I thank God for my husband who absolutely loves me and lets me know... unequally yolked goes farther than faith. When you are with a boyfriend who doesnt love you as much as you love them... well, you know it. Whether you want to admit it of not. I think the wonderous thing about the relationships of your parents, my parents & my husband & I are that the love is not one sided. Thats so very important not to settle for someone just cause you sooooooooo love them. I thank God for unanswered prayers in that regard because my wonderful husband was in my future & I could have... would have settled for someone who didnt love me like I loved him if only he would have asked. Thank you LORD!!

Thank you so much for sharing this!!! Truly from the heart, very touching, and a wonderful testimony.

 

[Sharp]

my dad taught me how to play chess when i was 5. i really appreciate that.

my mum still makes me lunch every day. she's cool.

 

[imoss]

yeah, I'd say thats pretty cool sharp!

 

[seoulsearch]

my dad taught me how to play chess when i was 5. i really appreciate that.

my mum still makes me lunch every day. she's cool.

Wow, I wish MY Mom made me lunch everyday!!!

 

[nanabean]

Why I love my parents........

I love them wholeheartedly for the fact that they raised us (six of us) maybe not going to church, but always knowing God as our Lord and Savior.

I love them oodles and boodles for showing us "kids" every day that the reality of a good, sound, loving marriage is maybe not always roses, and candy, and flowers, but working together and sharing big and small blessings and trials.

I love my dad for his sense of humor and strength. He is with Jesus now due to colon cancer, and his humor and strength is what not only got HIM through that last year, it is what got US through it as well. (I told him once that someone had told me that I had gotten his sense of humor......and he said "no you didn't .. I still have mine!!" hehehe)

I love my mom for her changeablity and her stableness. I know that seems an odd combination, but she has shown me in so many ways that we all change in different stages of our lives, but at the same time, she has also shown a consistancy with who she IS, and that she holds family values firmly.

These are only a few reasons "why" I love my parents..who knows?? maybe I will come back to add to the list........it could go on and on and on and on..........hahaha!

 

[kiwi_OT]

I love my Mum, because she understands me and laughs with me when I do ditzy stuff like walk into a door lolololol. We have the same sense of humor and most often, I can be laughing so hard while Im spluttering out a joke that she will understand and choke with laughter too.
I love her because I know she will take my advice and tell me issues that are going on in her life, and I can do the same with her. I love her because she has financially supported me a huge amount while I have been studying, and she doesnt want me to repay her except in a holiday to Australia with me after my graduation, so we can go to all the themeparks and throw up on the rollercoasters together

 

[imoss]

can I come?

 

[carpetmanswife]

I think we all learn to understand and mayb even love our parents more as we get older and have to dealwith life as they did ,gives us *or at least it did me*a better understanding of why they did some of the things they did when i was younger that i thought was so awful at the time...i love them both and miss them both very much
P.S. CALL YOUR MOM!! and dad...if you can...just say hi,I love you

 

[imoss]

Yeah CMW... I think having children has also given me a perspective of less judgement to my mother who had to deal with me the daughter who would say... "what are they gonna do, kill me, the party is worth anything else" and sneak outa the house. Me the daughter who was addicted to nicotine at 9... crazy, my son is 9! I cant even imagine. My mom is also no longer with us & many times i've wished I could say "no mom you werent a bad mom!" what trials we put them through & how we expect perfection when they are just like us, a couple of humans trying to struggle through this life to get it right in parenting & in marriage.

 

[carpetmanswife]

exactly,tell em now,i learned the hard way too..many thing i wish i could say to mama today BUT from that lesson i was ableto tell mymother in law things i needed too before she was gone thank God
we need to let people knowhow we feel now...not wish we had later

 

[imoss]

so should I tell my mom in law how much I dislike her... hee hee... She's kinda mean & only sees the bad in me!

 

[carpetmanswife]

aw well...i had one of the good ones

 

[Mal316]

Having recently become a parent, I see child/parent relationship in a whole new light. And I think it is not remiss to understand the relationship between children and parents in terms of our relationship with God.

We love because God first loved us. A child loves his/her parents because the parent loves the child. Left to our own devices, would we love God? Would we choose to follow Him or our own hearts and eyes? Our hearts and eyes lead us astray. The heart is deceitful. From the heart come all sorts of wickedness-evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. It is because of God's great love for us in showing us the way to live that we love Him in return and do what we can to please Him.

My parents showed great love in adopting six children, including yours truly. They also have one of their own issue. [Being adopted, I am uncomfortable with the term "biological" to refer to birth children. As if somehow adopted children were not biological but some other life form. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.] My parents showed great love in providing for their children in terms of food, clothing, shelter, education, medical attention, transportation to a million and a half things, attending recitals and band performances and sporting events, being a good listener, a source of comfort in hard times, an inspiration to strive to be the best we could be.

I am thankful that my parents made me learn Hebrew despite my reluctance to do so. I am glad they made me take music lessons despite my inclination to do anything other than practice my instruments. I am grateful for their insistence on doing my best in school work and band and sports and whatever I wanted to do. Of course, this was all very hard to see at the time. At the time, I felt they were overbearing, uncompromising, deaf, blind, and incapable of understanding my angst. Left to my own devices, I would have done anything other than what I knew I should have been doing. I would not have increased in learning, in musicianship, in strength and endurance. I would not have grown.

Too often I have taken my parents for granted, assuming they would always be there for me and bail me out of whatever trouble I was in. Once, when I managed to run out of gas on the highway, (yep, my own stupid fault), my dad said, "I hope you have children some day."

Now I do have a child. Thanks be to God! She is exhibiting a will of her own already, at the tender age of 3 1/2 months. But I love her b'kol lev, b'kol nefesh, b'kol meod (with all my heart, soul and might). I hope that I am doing the right things by her and will train her up in the way she should go. Thanks be to God for parents who train up their children in the love and fear of the Lord.

 

[Mal316]

so should I tell my mom in law how much I dislike her... hee hee... She's kinda mean & only sees the bad in me!

Yes.

But all kidding aside, do not bear a grudge. Do not hate your brother in your heart. Now your mother in law is obviously not your brother, but I take the verse to mean any family relative. Otherwise some might argue that we should only love our brother and we can hate our parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces, nephews, mothers and fathers in law, daughters and sons in law, etc. etc.

Of course, how you tell your mother in law that you dislike her matters a great deal. And a lot depends on the kind of relationship the two of you have and how much of sense of humor you share.