The Mom I Never Had - By Karen Lynn Vidra

I really never had a mother's love until only four years ago when I was adopted by the family I live with today.

I was born in Iran 12 years ago, but when I was born, I was given up because I was found to have severe disabilities. I was born with SB (spina bifida) that left my lower half paralyzed, and I was also born without arms or hands. (I now wear prosthetic "hooks" for my arms and hands, and with my "hooks" I can do many things.) I was also plagued with severe breathing problems that still bother me today. (I am often on oxygen.)

My name is Debby. Deborah Bapsi Suzanne Joy is my full name, but everyone calls me Debby unless they're mad at me. I have long, black hair that is semi-wavy, and very dark eyes, and my skin is dark, too, and in the summer, I only turn darker. I am in a wheelchair that I can make go with my chin, and I can do many things even with all my handicaps. I am a very happy girl, and I love things like butterflies, reading books, and going to church. I also love to sing. I am also a former Muslim-turned-Christian; I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart nearly a year-and-a-half ago, and I haven't been happier than I am right now.

But I am NOT writing about myself. I am writing about my mother and why I think she is very special to me.

My mother, Louisiana, is very special to me. She has given me love that I really never had until only 4 years ago when I was adopted by the family I now live with. I must admit that I was very scared and uncertain at first, but then I learned to love my new family very much, and I especially loved my new mother. She made me feel welcome, and she was very happy that I was now a part of her family. I must admit the size of my new family took a lot of getting used to, but in the end, I learned that they were now my family, and they were all very good kids. I also loved my new parents, and they made sure that I got the attention and love I needed. Sure, it was hard sharing things at first with kids I didn't know at first, but in time the fear lessened, and I grew to accept my new brothers and sisters.

My mother is a very small and dynamic woman, and she is full of love and joy. She is very pretty, and she kind of looks Iranian, with her dark eyes, hair, and skin, but she says that she is American, and that she was born in Louisiana. She says she is of French and American Indian heritage, and this is why she has such dark eyes, hair, and skin. She is one of five, and she is the youngest in her family. Her daddy is still alive, but her mother died of cancer something like five or six years ago, and sometimes she still cries when she thinks about her. She also lost a sister in a plane crash about the same time. So she has had a lot of tragedy in her life, but in the end, it has only made her a much stronger (and caring) person.

Mom works for a living; she has been a nurse for about 8 years, and she has been married to my daddy for just about 13 years (it will be 13 years on June 26). My mom works at Nashville Memorial Hospital, and she is the charge nurse there. She is really good at her job, and she loves it (there are days where she comes home in tears, but she is usually smiling or singing when she comes home from work). She is fairly healthy, but she does have arthritis and back problems that require her to walk with a cane, and she also is on medication because of epilepsy, but the epilepsy is under control, thank God. Mom fell out of a tree when she was a little girl, and this is why she now has arthritis and other back problems.

Mom is just a little taller than me (if I were standing up, I would be 4'5 1/2" tall), and she was born a little person (plus her parents were both short). She is only 4'7 1/2" tall. She is rather heavy, though, and she doesn't let being heavy bother her. She just goes about her business, and she takes care of us kids so well. She is always busy, the only time she is ever really still is in the evening, right before she goes to bed. (She goes to bed by 10, as she has to be at work at 6 the next morning. She then works until 2, right before us kids come home from school--although now we are out for the summer--, so we are already home when she comes home.)

Mom is a very caring person. Besides her job, she is also a very good woman of strong Christian faith, and she will be busy praying or studying God's Word before she sets off to work. She is always lifting up somebody in prayer, and she takes us to church three times a week (twice for services, and once for choir practice). We go to Christ Community Assembly of God Church, and we love it.
We get so much out of Pastor Bilkey's sermons, and the praise and worship music is so pretty!

Now, mom didn't always know Christ. She was raised Catholic, but then nearly two years back, she went to a play called "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames", and within the next few weeks, one by one, the family started accepting Jesus into their hearts, including me. Now we're just about a totally Christian family, and we couldn't be any happier.


Mom is a very good cook, in addition to being a good caretaker, mother, friend, and wife. She makes us the best dishes, and she can make it all: Cajun, Mexican, American, Persian (thanks to me; I got her an Iranian cookbook last year, and she's made me a few Iranian dishes), French, Italian, and Greek. She is especially good at making Cajun dishes; why not? She happens to BE a Cajun! :)

She was a good dancer, dancing the Cajun two-step, but then her back started giving her problems, and so she no longer does it. She misses the dancing, but she still loves the Cajun music, and every May we go to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, where they have a huge crawfish festival. We then go to Fan Fair in June, where more Cajun music can be heard (if you know where to look!), and we may go to some more festivals, but we don't do a lot of traveling other than that. Sometimes we'll go to the Grand Ole Opry if there's tickets available, but usually we just stay home and enjoy the summer. (Poor mom has to work during the summer, so the only time she ever gets a break is when we go to Fan Fair or to a festival if Ronee' is scheduled to perform. Ronee' is my little sister, and she is a very good singer. She is trying to become a country and Cajun singer, and she is quite good.)

I think mom is very special because she never complains when she takes care of me (or the other kids), and she always usually has a smile on her face. She is a great friend whenever we kids have a problem because we can talk to her and never feel stupid, and she tries her best to help us with whatever problems we may be facing. And she is special because she knows how it is to be handicapped, and she is our biggest supporter, and she will fight for us kids whenever the time calls for it. She is also a talented singer and musician (she plays guitar, Cajun accordion, and steel guitar), and she has more love in her heart than most people seem to in their little finger! My mom is certainly one in a million, and I feel honored that she chose me to be her daughter!

*Mommy~ This is for you! I love you with all my heart and soul! Debby.*