My mother is an amazing woman.  She:

- was the youngest of 11 children.

- lost her father at age 9.

- married at age 15.

- sent her husband off to World War II at the age of 20.

- gave birth to seven children.

- finished high school after having her first 2 children.

- was a pastor’s wife for many years.

- began picking up college classes in 1963, when I was in junior high.

- finished college 22 years later in 1985.

- lost her husband, my father, at age 62.

- was asked by his last congregation, a small retirement pastorate, if she would finish out that year as their pastor.

- pursued a seminary degree, finishing in 3 years, while continuing to serve as pastor of that church.

- served as a pastor, full-time for 3 years, before mandatory retirement.

- then served as a pastor, part-time, for another 10 years.

- in 2005, at age 82, began recounting her memories in a weblog.

- by 2011, at age 88, has written over 300 blog entries, which are read by hundreds of people around the world.

She has recently finished <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Chronicles of Ruth, Blogging Through My 80s</span></em>, a compilation of some of her blog posts.  The photo on the cover was taken of Mother, and her daughters, my sisters, Janice and Joan, to send to her husband Charles, a marine, during World War II.

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And she is working to complete another book, 52 Sundays, a collection of some of her best sermons, from her year