Avai'a - The Model Mother

I regard my mother as the model mother. She was an exemplar of "a loving mother". My father summed up her "loving" nature in his farewell words at Avai'as funeral Service. He spoke in Samoan and I have translated as follows:-

She was a source of many blessings
She was a mother who loved God
She loved her family, her church, friends, children, husband
And she loved Jesus

She was strong in her love
Strong in her faith in God
Strong in her love for her husband
Strong in her love for the children she raised and mothered
Strong in her devotion to her church

Her children in Jesus Christ ..she raised many of them
In Fatausi - ten years
In Vaivasetai - twenty-two years
The students at the Samoa College hostel who worshipped regularly at the Vaivasetai Church
The rugby players from Tonga and Fiji who she readily agreed to host
Many of her children in Christ can now be found ministering in different corners of the world

In all her work as Mother,
she was kind
and gentle
humble
and committed
SHE EXCELLED AS A CARING MOTHER

She had the qualities to perform
a quiet leading role in her Family and
in her Church

I salute my mother for all the good qualities she had and reflected in her life.
If I could demonstrate a third of all her qualities I'd be a much better mother myself.