One More

Over the last few days, I have been thinking about all the expressions my mom used to say, over and over, to pound values into our head.

This was inspired by recently reading a book on Amish proverbs. My favorite in that book was, "Every mother crow thinks her baby is the blackest." Isn't that the best? It is so simple and every one who hears it knows exactly what it means.

I was going to blog a long list. Surely there were lots of things she said.

But the truth is, I remember only ONE saying, because most of my memories are of my mom listening. There was a certain chair I sat in at the kitchen table, and she would cook while I talked. Or, I would be drying dishes while she washed. Mostly she was quiet and soaking it all in, or preoccupied with Mom thoughts as mothers sometimes do.

But the one expression she said a lot is now very important to me.

When the four of us were small, before baby Kritter came along, our family car was a little, red, fast Mustang. We would all cram into the back seat, before car seats, of course.

Sometimes our neighbor friends would call for a ride to practice or the ballgame. It seemed impossible to fit one more person in our car, but Mother would say ...

"There's always room for one more."....

and we would cringe. It would be annoying and crowded, but Mom made everyone feel welcome in our little vehicle.

When considering adding a new baby to our family, this expression always played in my head. When considering adoption, I often thought....

"There's always room for one more."

When several of the kids want to have friends over and I think we may not have enough pillows, I think...

"There's always room for one more."


It has become a little theme in my life. It just occurred to me that it is a very Christ-like attitude!

So Mother, I would like to thank you for giving that gift to me. Living one's life like there's always room for one more has brought me a lot of joy, and I hope, made others feel welcome in our lives.

What a unique and special gift from a loving Mother.