Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! During the Sunday morning service, I gave a tribute to my mom. This is my transcript for my speech.

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Who?

• Hazel Leung…that is the name of my mother.
• My mom is the second youngest in the family of…9, I think.
• My mom is the best cook ever. I asked her how she learned to cook. She learned how to cook by observing and helping her mother, my grandmother, cook. She also knows the food that I hate to eat, so she does not cook a lot of them.
• My mom has good taste on fashion. In addition, she works as a tailor during her extra free time from work. My mom would make sure that I would have a suit that perfectly fits me because she wants me to dress nicely for special events.
• My mom loves dim sum - food in the Chinese restaurant. Almost every single week, she would spend time with her friends to go out for dim sum. I would always do my best to spend time with her and at least eat lunch with her.
• My mom is very traditional and loved family time. Special events such as Chinese New Year, she would tell everyone in the family to get together for dinner, and bring your significant other if you will.
• Of course, there are still much more I could tell you about my mother.

• My mom is a strong woman…a woman who conceived and bored 5 boys in the family, of which I am the second youngest.
• My mom has always been there – from the time of my birth until now. She took care of me, she looked after me, she fed, she clothed me, and she saw me grew in stature.
• My mom would invest her money and time to put me in extracurricular activities, tutoring and Chinese school.
• My mom would correct her boys in whatever manner of tone or action.
• My mom is full of grace when her rebellious sons go on the wrong path.

Challenges

• My mom has faced many challenges in her life. I did mention that my mom is a strong woman. Not only is she strong, but a woman who perseveres through the most difficult trials in her life.
• My mom took up the responsibility to raise up her two youngest sons, me and my little brother, when my parents separated. Three of my older brothers were independent at that time.
• My mom had no income, nor received any income from relatives or immediate family, so she had to work even to the point of working every single day with two jobs for 3-4 years.
• I remember as she was trying out the second job, she quit immediately because it was challenging. Nonetheless, she persevered in finding the 2nd job because she had no choice since she did not have enough income to pay rent nor feed her two sons. She sacrificed her sleep and social life just so that my little brother and I could get through high school, and go to University and get a good job after that.
• My mom at one point was tempted to not bear the responsibility or burden and leave her two sons all by themselves, but her love and sacrifice for the family was breath-taking.
• Despite the fact that my little brother and I were giving her tremendous hard times during our teenage years, my mom is not a person who easily holds grudges against someone. She will do her best to correct and teach her children.

Lessons

• That’s my mother. Growing up and watching her live, there are great lessons to be learned.
• She taught me to be a responsible person, and take good care of her and my future spouse as I grow up.
• Her circumstances taught me about perseverance. It is definitely not easy to walk along this path, but we as a family persevered together through those challenges.
• Nonetheless, my mom is a great role model in demonstrating her love and sacrifice for the family, and bearing the responsibility to take care of her children.

Doxology

• I really thank God for placing a wonderful mother in my life.
• God used my mom in many ways to nurture me into the person that I am today. If it weren’t for her, then I might not even be here.
• I know my mom loves me.
• If my mom were here today in this service, I want her to know that I deeply appreciate her and I love her.