I'm a girl.  As such, I naturally clashed with my mother a bit, when a teenager.  But over the years of adulthood, I'm growing to appreciate more and more the treasure I have in a mother.  There are things she never had, that I take for granted.  There are lessons her parents never taught, that she spent years instilling in me and my siblings.  Now as I travel through parenthood, unsure and inexperienced, I realize just how much I still have to learn.  And I never seem to catch up to her!

My mom is a trucker now, and far away most of the time.  Oh, how I miss her presence in our lives!  But thank goodness for cell phones and facebook. Between conversations and photo albums, we get to feel like a part of so exciting adventures and sights across the country, in the life of a female long-haul deliverer.  And though I don't know how she does it -- I don't know if I could -- she has even been able to grow in faith with other lovers of Jesus and the Bible, in a dramatic and inspiring way.

In love with Hebrew and the Jewish nation, and in need of a church and something to do one Saturday morning, my mom experimented with visiting a Messianic synagogue one weekend and was amazed.  The fervor and solid doctrine of the congregation, along with all the symbolism and meaning of the Jewish culture, drew her to a new level of faith and motivation for growing and seeking God.  Amazingly, God arranged it for her to be able to pass through that town three weekends in a row, which almost never happens in her job, establishing lasting relationships with some of the people there.

Now she visits Messianic synagogues wherever she goes, and has worked her way out of trucker solitude.  It also pushed her to relearn her beloved Hebrew, now that she knows some people who speak it, she has found a Christian music she likes, that of Jewish praise, which also employs her Hebrew.  And in addition to sharing her testimony with those she meets, which she had been doing, she is now excited to help in the work of re-introducing the gentile church with their Jewish brothers, and introducing Jews to their Messiah.  Check out where she's been finding community, at Beit Simcha .org .  And check out Mom's blog, at http://kjontheroad.blogspot.com.

My eccentric, homey,  traveling mother.  Gotta love her!