I was hoping to get this post up on Saturday but I was at a Gospel concert put on by the Claremont Interfaith Council in the afternoon and the Respect Life Mass at the Cathedral in the evening. (My father-in-law is super-involved with ecumenical things down here in Southern California and one of his colleagues is the ecumenical officer for the diocese so I’ve had the blessing of getting to go to the cathedral and sitting with the ecumenical guests or at least their plus-ones.) I spent my computer time last night up with a very sick little boy who decided to spike a 104F fever. (We thankfully got it down and he is headed to school tomorrow.)

The previous entry I posted on this subject had a pretty negative tone so I thought I’d talk about the positive “Titus 2 women” in my real life and online.

Mary Lenaburg: I’m sure Mary would be surprised to see her name on here (hopefully not all that surprised) but she is a huge encourager of everyone that finds themselves in her sphere. Seeing her life with her daughter Courtney (who went to be with Jesus after Christmas) has inspired me to be a better mother to Daniel and at times like last night when I was up with my sick kiddo, she sends me messages to let me know that she’s praying for me. Girlfriend also just captured the “Most Inspirational Blog” and “Miss Congeniality” awards in the Sheenazing awards this year and I can’t think of a more deserving person.

Michelle Lehnardt: I come from a pretty amazing family and yet I really wish Michelle and Erik would adopt me! Not only is she a phenomenal photographer, but Michelle has managed to raise 2 wonderful young men, has three fabulous teenagers, and one wonderful daughter. She is the first to name her shortcomings but she and her husband have managed to instill a sense of honor and kindness in their kids as well as an ability to find fun ways to include other people. Her oldest son Ben is back at BYU after serving a mission to Italy, her next son Stefan comes home from his mission to Russia in a few months, and her kids left in school are phenomenal musicians and quite bright.

My mother-in-law Victoria: We have a good relationship but we both have to work at it to make all that goes into sharing a house work. She knows just about everything about cleaning just about anything and she had ideas about the ways she wants things to work; but at the same time, she’s also willing to listen to what I have to say. She prays for me daily and is willing to listen and help me talk out a lot of stuff I’m dealing with in order to find a solution.

Lou Ellyn Griffin: I wish she had a blog because I would publicize it as much as I could. She and her family used to live down the street from my parents and her older daughters baby-sat for us. My brother and I were her pet and house sitters growing up and I worked for her during my summers from the time I was 10 until I was 19 with a couple summers off to be a camp counselor. The reason she’s on my list: she read me the Christmas story when I was six and made sure I knew that God loved me and that she would answer any questions I had. I took her up on it as a teenager and she is my godmother.

Dee Rheingans: Dee was one of our parishioners in Minnesota and a woman who is now in her 80’s. She is incredibly young at heart and she was honestly one of the best church women I could have had as a young pastor’s wife. She loved me for who I was, was wonderful about not giving advice unless I asked for it, and always willing to answer questions I had about how to do something, no matter how stupid the question probably seemed. She prayed for me every time I took my driving test (3rd time was the charm!) and I remember her leaving a message on our answering machine on a really snowy day telling me that she was laughing at the thought of me out playing in it. (At that point in time, I had only been out of California for 3 years and snow was still a novelty.)

I bring these women up as examples for others in the faith to try and emulate because they have a good relationship with my generation and I feel that others who want to be “Titus 2 women” can learn from them.