Eastman Family: Happy Mother's Day!

Grandma Barber

Sharry Lynn

Thank you Mom for your wonderful hands. Those hands are a symbol of strength, beauty, love, sacrifice, hard work and faith! Love those hands and all they mean! Love you. Happy Mothers day! JENNIFER

‪#‎momshands‬

“ALL THAT I AM OR EVER HOPE TO BE, I OWE TO MY ANGEL MOTHER.”

Abraham Lincoln

I love you with all of my heart!

My dear dear MOTHER!! THESE thoughts came rushing to me last night as I was thinking of her after I got off the phone with her. She has taught me what it means to be sealed and to make and keep sacred covenants. It was not until I was married and when I had children of my own that I fully appreciated her completely. I honor her, I respect her and care for her deeply. When I have a hard day in my marriage and raising my own kids I think of her. Of her devotion, unselfishness, commitment to her husband and to her children. She taught me to make choices and when I make them they are mine and good or bad consequences will follow. She taught me the importance of following and listening to the spirit. She taught me about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and to repent and to always seek the bishops counsel throughout my life. She taught me to be self reliant and independent and to WORK hard. She taught me how to care for a home, to clean and to care for the things I have. She taught me to love the outdoors to care for my YARD. I do need to work on my green thumb. She taught me about canning, gardening, preserving, being happy with what you haveWhen life got hard for her she stayed true and faithful and never gave up. She continued to pray, keep the commandments and read the scriptures. She NEVER gave up. She chose to stay and raise us even when there were years that she was on her own doing it. She CHOSE to stay married and remained true and faithful when it could have been easy for her to walk away. She CHOOSES to see the best in others her husband and her children and to continue to remind us of WHO we are. She always says she is the mother she is because of the children she received. She always taught us that we are not hers that we are HIS and she has stewardship over us. She taught me WHO I am that I am a daughter of God. She taught me to serve and to give of myself. She taught me that when I am not happy to not focus on myself but to reach out to others. She taught us correct principles and let us govern ourselves. She taught me that being sorry is an action word not just something you say and when you say sorry mean it and stop the behavior that causes you to say sorry. She taught me to be quiet. She has always listened to me and still does. I like to share. I like to express. I like to talk and SHE LISTENS. She taught us the Gospel and to TRY The word and to PROVE it. I will forever be grateful for her sacrifices and selfless service to bring me into this world and to raise us. If you were to ask each of my brothers and sisters we would all say that we were her favorite (there are 7 of us). She helped us all feel loved, special and important she makes time for us all. If I can only be half the women she is and was.

I am grateful for my living Guardian Angel. My biggest fan and support still encouraging me when I need it. Still listening to me. I probably call her 2-3 times a day. I cannot imagine my life with out her. The Lord knew what he was doing when he sent me to her.

I love these pictures my sister posted. My Grandmother Barber on the L and my Mother on the R!

I love my grandmother for loving the Lord. For keeping a meticulous journal of her family and personal history. I got this from her. I am grateful for her self reliance and independence. I am grateful for her faith, commitment and devotion to serving others and the Lord. I am grateful for her example! She taught me the correct words to say. She taught me to be respectful to my elders. She taught me how to clean toilets correctly. She taught me manners and how to sit up straight (I still don't sit up straight, but that was something she always said when she came around) "Don't slouch sit up straight!" Her parents came from German and taught her to speak German. With her irish and german genes she passed on some wonderful stubborn, strong headed genes that I struggle with but also am very so very grateful for! I am grateful for her love of words and poetry. I am grateful for her love of cooking and serving. She always set a table for every meal. I am grateful for her example of health. When she would visit I would get up early in the morning and there she was working out with some lady on PBS channel in our living room. I am grateful for her example of not letting depression or Parkinson's Disease that afflicted her body get the best of her. I am grateful for her example in keeping her mind strong and healthy. She was always working on a cross word puzzle. She did not like doretos and she did not like strong smelling perfume. I love how her favorite hymn was IF YOU COULD HIE TO KOLOB. It is one of my favorites and when I sing it I think of her. I am grateful she played the piano and sang and taught her kids to love music that was passed onto me. She also had an amazing green thumb. She loved her garden and taking care of her yard. She taught me what it means to be devoted and to love with all your heart and to be committed to a husband! She would say if your calling gets in the way of spending quality time with your husband that you have to rethink things. My grandpa was FIRST always FIRST and she adored him. I am grateful she was the one that sought GOD and found the TRUE CHURCH and helped her family find GOD. Because of her and my mom joining the church when my mom was 15 I have the knowledge of HIM and HIS church.

NO matter what trials or hardships these two women faced they remained TRUE, and STEADFAST. THEY have endured and continue to endure and are examples of true disciples of Jesus Christ.

I know my Grandmother Barber is one of my guardian angels. She is there beyond the Veil Hastening the Work of Salvation for all of us. She still teaches, expounds, exhorts, guides and inspires. She does care about each of our decisions and our eternal salvation. I am grateful for her ever guiding hand in my life even to this day. I feel her near many times!

Love Deirdre

I wrote this tribute to my mother for her birthday, which just so happened to land a few weeks prior to Mother's Day, but every sentiment I felt when writing these words can easily be duplicated in honoring her on Mother's Day:

Dearest Mother,

I could write an entire blogpost about all the wonderful things I love about you, ways in which I am grateful for you, and the plethora of ways you are an example to me. I am so grateful that I came into your world 34 years ago and that I had the privilege of being raised by such a beautiful woman! I feel like every GOOD thing I am today is because of you. You taught me how to be fiercely loyal to any cause that I pursue; you taught me how to be proactive in my life—to go after my dreams, to never settle for less, to push myself to always exceed my own expectations. You instilled within me a love of learning and a love of words. You nourished my creative and independent spirit by being the epitome of creativity, artistic ability, and independency.

A few thoughts about this trait of being independent: I can't tell you how grateful I am that through your example you taught me how to survive (either through a hardship—physical or emotional— or a moment of defeat and/or exhaustion), you taught me how to be a leader not a follower, you taught me how to be able to be happy with myself and not have to rely on others for happiness, you taught me how to see a task and be able to execute it. Thank you for never clipping my independent "wings"; I can't you how many times they have saved me, how many times when I have faced a very difficult situation in my life—causing me to doubt the very core of who I am—of being able to muster up enough agility to look behind me and see those wings, reminding me not only that I was born to fly but that I have the gumption and capability (because of my mothers example) to defeat the odds, to soar above the hardships and complexities of life. Thank you for not only seeing who I was as a child, but nourishing and loving that person instead of trying to mold or change me into something you thought was an even better version of myself. I look up to you so much in the way you mothered me. And if I can only get HALF of what you did right in the lives of my two boys, I know that I am going to be damn good mother.

Sometimes I think about what keeps this family of 7 together with all of our different dynamics, dissimilarities, and tainted pasts? But I now know the answer: it's you, our mother. We all came from YOU; every single one of us felt apart of you, was nourished by you, was carried by you for 9 months (give or take) before we took our first breath into this world. Essentially every single one of us took something from you—a different part of you—and that is the bond that keeps us together. YOU are the BEST of all of us. Now raising two little boys I realize how selfless it is to be a mother. YOU raised SEVEN—I now know you gave us EVERYTHING you had, even when you didn't have anything else to give. You always did the best you could, and you did more than you could!

I love you. I am eternally indebted to you. I will forever respect you, honor you, praise your name, and live in gratitude for your life because of all of these encompassing ways that have made you my MOTHER.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And I will now add, Happy Mother's Day!!

LOVE, AMANDA

I love this video clip displaying all of the teaching moments we have with our children. From the moment they are born, to the moment they take their first step, to the moments they experience life, to the moments they leave our home . . . we are fortunate (some times we feel unfortunate) to be a part of every one of those moments. When the days are long and hard, when the joyful, fulling moments are fleeting, it is important to take a step back and remember that WE allowed them to take a step forward. Isn't that what Motherhood is all about: sacrifice, giving, selflessness, unconditional love? You know I never realized it until adulthood, but I am grateful my mother gave these things to me so that I may have the life experiences I've had. And in my moments of wanting to sacrifice less and be more selfish in my present roll as a mother, I recall all the moments that my mother was less selfish, more loving, more tolerant, patient kind, and my heart swells with so much appreciation—the kind of appreciation I want my boys to feel for me one day. And so on the tired, lonely, hard, exhausting moments of motherhood, I will remember the little feet I gave birth too, the little feet that I helped assist in their first steps, and the big feet that will one day go out into this big world and leave his ever impacting mark upon it.

My Grandmother, my mother Sharry Eastman, and me as a mother to these two boys - AMANDA

Thanks so much for raising such an incredible son for me to marry!! You amaze me! Love you, Happy Mothers Day!! KIMBER

Happy Mother's Day beautiful lady!!! I love you so much!! What a be example you have been to me! Nurturing so many children! Serving, loving, teaching, inspiring, uplifting them! From young women, to primary, to Sarah, to all of your nieces and nephews!! You are simply the best! Your women heart has strengthen and touched and nurtured mine so much!! I love you dearly!!! JENNIFER

Donovan Eastman Happy Mothers Day to all those amazing women who do so much, with so much love, often with little or nor recognition....
Mindi Memmott
Sharry Eastman
Diane Frampton Memmott
Staci Blackett Craig
Jaci Finch
Deirdre Lynn Davis

Kimber Eastman
Amanda Moncur
Jennifer A Eastman-Howard
Shayna Jones Eastman
Michelle Nielsen
Melanie Weeks

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” — Rajneesh

These two women have left quite a legacy of faith and overcoming hardship. They raised strong, indepedant, children in the gospel. I will forever be grateful for them. I hope I can do half of what they have done. My grandmother and my mom. Happy Mother's Day! MICHELLE

QUOTES and WORDS THAT DESCRIBE MOTHERHOOD AND MOTHERS SO BEAUTIFULLY

""Who taught us to love God, to love others, to love ourselves? Who prayed with us? Who prayed for us?" #itwasmom i love you Sharry Eastman

The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they 'wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places' (Ephesians 6:12).1 However, mothers need not fear. When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children."

#MormonWomenStand

In honor of Mother's Day coming up.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell once asked: “When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?”

"He never forgot, even in His anguish, the woman who cared for Him even before she could hold Him in her arms—the earthly mother who had prepared Him for a divine mission."

"Being a mother is so much more than a biological process. It’s a heavenly job created by God before this life. In heaven, all of us who live now and all who have ever lived on earth lived with God as His spirit sons and daughters. God has a plan that allows all of us to come to earth, acquire physical bodies, and grow through life’s experiences, eventually returning to Him again after we die."

“THERE IS NO LIMIT TO WHAT A MOTHER CAN ACCOMPLISH. RIGHTEOUS WOMEN HAVE CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.”

Julie B. Beck

"It’s the highest, holiest service assumed by humankind. It’s the definition of selfless service. It’s both a daunting responsibility and a glorious opportunity. The divine role of motherhood is a gift from God, and key to His plan of happiness for all His children."

#ItwasMom

Who taught you to hope for better things? #ItWasMom

Why Mother’s Day Is Really Just For the Birds

Because I ain’t no Hallmark mother –

and none of us are, if we’re really truth-telling here.

If we’re honest– and what else is there really — there were burnt dinners and yelling mornings.

And neck strained words over lost shoes and scattered Legos and unfinished homework and there were crumpled tears behind bathroom doors.

Not to mention the frozen pizzas and no clean underwear and the wild words no one would want the cameras rolling for.

And the realization — that a mother’s labor and delivery never ends and you never stop having to remember to breathe.

I became a mother on the eve of Mother’s Day. The Saturday before the Sunday — at the oblivious age of twenty-one.

And just seven days after I’d dropped my own fragile mama off at a locked psych ward. That Mother’s day eve baby, he turns 19 this year, day after Mother’s Day. And there’s no point kidding anyone — we’re all a bit crazy.

The deal is — Motherhood isn’t sainthood and we’re all a bunch of sinners here and don’t let anyone tell you any different — pushing something out of your womb doesn’t make you a better woman.

Real Womanhood isn’t a function of becoming a great mother, but of being loved by your Great Father. Someone write that on a card with a bouquet of flowers. We all need that.

We all need that for the days that we hated our mothers — or hated being a mother.

When no room was big enough to find peace and no clock could tick fast enough to just get the day over with, and the truth is, facades only end up suffocating us all and it’s only telling the truth that lets you breathe –

and there really were days that felt pretty bad and looked pretty ugly.

And maybe that’s what it really was — maybe the days were pretty and ugly. Pretty…Ugly.

The ugly beautiful of reality and love and humanity and what it means to become real.

That was what was happening: the stacks of dishes and everests of laundry and the tantrums of toddlers and teenagers and tired mamas and all the scuffed up walls down the hall and through the heart, they were all wearing down the plastic of pride, wearing us down to the real wood of grace and the Cross. It really is okay.

To lose it and be found, to be rubbed the wrong way to be come the rightest way, to let all the hard times rub you down to real.

That’s just the pretty ugly of us — we’re not the Hallmark mother, just the Velveteen Mothers. The Velveteen Mothers who know when there’s a volleys of words and weary silences afterward and everything looks impossibly wrecked —

The angular, hard edges of perfection are being sanded down by all our scrapes and falls, till we’re round and soft and can get close enough to each other to just hold each other.

Only when you’re broken are you tender enough to wrap yourself around anyone.

Only the broken people can really embrace.

That’s us — could we just really hold onto each other?

Find each other and hold onto each other and offer the hug of the broken who know the relief that homemaking is about making a home, not perfection, that motherhood is a hallowed space because children aren’t commonplace, that anyone who fosters dreams and labor prayers is a mother to the child in us all.

We’ll be the holding-on-broken who know that it’s not that we won’t blow it but it’s what we’ll do with it afterwards, whose priorities aren’t things that get us noticed, but priorities are all Things Unseen, who keep praying to only speak words that make souls stronger and keep getting up when we fall down because this is always how things just fall together.

Just let them sell their truckloads of perfect Mother’s Day Cards.

There’s far more Velveteen Mothers who are broken into real and worn into beauty.

Who have busted the Balloon of Better Homes, Gardens and Women and live the Gospel of Grace and we’re done with perfection because we’re the Everyday Prodigals who are wasteful in love and extravagant in grace and recklessly spending our attention on the mercies of the Prodigal God.

God wants Prodigal Parents — not perfect parents.

Lavish in love, extravagant in truth, big spenders of grace.

There will be cake this weekend. And we will eat it too.

And there will be tears and there will be laughter — because what messes our life up most — is the expectation of what our life is supposed to look like — and there will be a mess of dishes in the sink and a ring of grime in the bathtub and the clock will just keep on ticking and we’ll grab onto someone right in the kitchen and just hold on and let go.

It won’t be perfect — but we’ll be prodigals.

Because can count on it: Mother’s Day is for the birds –

us who are flying on the wings of His grace and a prayer.

"All of the feelings of inadequacy that mothers sometimes feel must have rested on Mary, who knew that Jesus was meant to become something far greater than a mere carpenter. She watched her son confound older men in the temple and, later, turn water to wine. She heard firsthand His transcendental teachings and saw the outcome of His innumerable miracles—the blind seeing, the dead living, and the dumb speaking. She wondered at all of it."

"The divine role of motherhood is exhibited in all women, whether they’ve born children or not. It is important to remember that the call to nurture is not limited to our own flesh and blood. Whether it’s an aunt, a teacher, a friend, or a community leader, we are all deeply indebted to the moral, steadying influence of good women in our lives."

President David O. McKay put it beautifully when he said, speaking of mothers, “This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, whose immortal souls will exert an influence throughout the ages long after paintings shall have faded, and books and statues shall have decayed or shall have been destroyed, deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God. In her high duty and service to humanity, endowing with immortality eternal spirits, she is co-partner with the Creator himself.” (Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 453–54.)

How cool to learn the history of Mothers Day—who knew it was such a fight/arduous process to make it a national holiday? So grateful for those strong, relentless women who have paved the way before me!!!

The American incarnation of Mother's Day is the result of years of women's activism that coincided with other women's movements -- like women's suffrage and labor movements -- around the turn of the 20th century.

Following her mother's death in 1905, the younger Jarvis began petitioning for a national holiday in celebration of mothers everywhere. She sent letters to President William Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt, enlisted financial help from Philadelphia department store owner John Wanamaker and organized her own Mother's Day celebration in a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia.

In May 1907, Anna Jarvis, a member of a Methodist congregation in Grafton, West Virginia, passed out 500 white carnations in church to commemorate the life of her mother. One year later, the same Methodist church created a special service to honor mothers. Many progressive and liberal Christian organizations -- like the YMCA and the World Sunday School Association -- picked up the cause and lobbied Congress to make Mother's Day a national holiday. And, in 1914, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson made it official and signed Mother's Day into law. Thus began the modern celebration of Mother's Day in the United States.

Hey moms...Happy Mother's Day! I think you have perhaps the most important and sacred job in the world- ask your kids! Your calling as "mother" from God is irrevocable and irreplaceable. Us guys (as capable and handy as we often are), could NEVER replace you or do what you do because you are uniquely and perfectly designed. You are creating, shaping and shepherding the hearts of the next generation of humans. Through them, God will heaven-ize the world. Without your love, wisdom, patience, and nurturing care, we'd

be lost and lame as a culture. Thank you, mothers who love and embrace your sacred identity and high calling- you are making the world a more heavenly place for us all. Bless you, bless you, bless you moms!

Thank you soooo much for being my mom. If I had a different mom I would punch her in the face and go find you.

"Here's to the happy ones. Here's to the sad ones.

Here's to the tired ones and the get-up-early-and-run ones. Here's to the messy ones. Here's to the control-freak ones. Here's to the perfect ones and the not-so-perfect ones.

Here's to the always-there ones. Here's to the stay-at-home ones. Here's to the big dreaming ones and the everything-will-be-ok ones. Here's to the working ones and the work-from-home ones. Here's to the yelling-cause-I-care ones and the let-me-make-it-better-with-hugs ones.

Here's to the enough ones and the I'll-never-be-enough ones. Here's to the creative ones and the nothing-goes-right ones. Here's to the distracted ones.

Here's to good-listening ones. Here's to the ones who spend their days cleaning. Here's to the ones that spend their days playing.

Here's to the asleep-by-nine ones and to the stayed-up-way-too-late ones. Here's to the always-cries-on-Mother's-Day ones. Here's to the won't-be-happy ones.

Here's to the get-up-early ones. Here's to the mid-day-nap ones. Here's to the make-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner ones. Here's to the take-out-is-wonderful ones.

Here's to You. Wonderful, awesome and beautiful you!"

The Saturday before Mother's Day is National Birth Mother's Day, and we want to recognize the incredible mothers who have shared their love and hearts to allow other women to become mothers, too.

Sister Ardeth G. Kapp, the ninth General Young Women President, was never blessed with children. When she was asked to give the keynote address at the national Families Supporting Adoption conference, she explained, “Motherhood is an eternal reality for all women who live righteously and accept the teachings of the gospel.” Some women are unable to have children, while other women have prayerfully determined that placing their children for adoption gives them the life and blessings the Lord has in store for them. This is not a bond that ends when their children are placed.

“The decision to place an infant for adoption can be a wrenching one, yet it is an act of selflessness and profound love.” (Ensign, Feb. 2002)

The astonishing women who place their children for adoption understand Sister Kapp’s words when she said, “You need not possess children to love them. Loving is not synonymous with possessing, and possessing is not necessarily loving.”

While we know every circumstance is different, our hearts are filled with love and utmost respect for those who will not celebrate Mother’s Day with all of their children, but who should be remembered and honored and cherished as mothers, all the same.

#MormonWomenStand #adoption #BirthMothersDay

When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children. - Julie B. Beck #ItWasMom

"When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this."

In his classic General Conference talk, "The Women of God," Elder Neal A. Maxwell eloquently spoke of the eternal work of women. As women of God we know the great responsibility we have to bear, care for, and raise children.

And in the end, isn’t that what it means to be a mother? To love, strengthen, encourage, teach, and lift another? To nurture the life of another human being? These wonderful women may not have their biological children, but the way that they give life to others qualifies them as the mothers of many.

So, this Mother’s Day, please know that I am thinking of you women without children—you mothers of many.

And know that I honor you this day as well."

"My hope is to inspire my kids to embrace WHO THEY ARE and to discover their God-given gifts, be less concerned about the opinions of others and more concerned about what's in their heart. Judge less, love more, find their passion and purpose in this life....and be true to themselves."

A mother's unqualified love approaches Christlike love. Here is a beautiful tribute by a son to his mother: "I don't remember much about her views of voting nor her social prestige; and what her ideas on child training, diet, and eugenics were, I cannot recall. The main thing that sifts back to me now through the thick undergrowth of years is that she loved me. She liked to lie on the grass with me and tell stories, or to run and hide with us children. She was always hugging me. . . . And I liked it. She had a sunny face. To me it was like God, and all the beatitudes saints tell of Him. And sing! Of all the sensations pleasurable to my life nothing can compare with the rapture of crawling up into her lap and going to sleep while she swung to and fro in her rocking chair and sang. Thinking of this, I wonder if the woman of today, with all her tremendous notions and plans, realizes what an almighty factor she is in shaping of her child for weal or woe? I wonder if she realizes how much sheer love and attention count for in a child's life." President Ezra Taft Benson

"Here's to the happy ones. Here's to the sad ones.

Here's to the tired ones and the get-up-early-and-run ones. Here's to the messy ones. Here's to the control-freak ones. Here's to the perfect ones and the not-so-perfect ones.

Here's to the enough ones and the I'll-never-be-enough ones. Here's to the creative ones and the nothing-goes-right ones. Here's to the distracted ones.

Here's to good-listening ones. Here's to the ones who spend their days cleaning. Here's to the ones that spend their days playing.

Here's to the asleep-by-nine ones and to the stayed-up-way-too-late ones. Here's to the always-cries-on-Mother's-Day ones. Here's to the won't-be-happy ones.

Here's to the get-up-early ones. Here's to the mid-day-nap ones. Here's to the make-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner ones. Here's to the take-out-is-wonderful ones.

Here's to You. Wonderful, awesome and beautiful you!"