We are so thankful for our moms, and their love is no different no matter where they are in the world.

1. Thank you for putting me to bed after I’d fall asleep mid-bite during lunchtime.

2. For cleaning my favorite shirt 473 times a day because I didn’t understand the phrase, “I just washed that.”

3. For putting me in the shopping cart and then taking me out every 47 seconds when we would go shopping because making up my mind wasn’t one of my strengths.

4. For doing whatever it took to make sure there was food in the cupboards.

5. For making the best food. Even top ramen tastes better when you make it.

6. For teaching me how to do the dishes…which looking back might have been done more for your benefit than mine… but still I am so thankful.

7. For teaching me that what I wear isn’t as important as who I am

8. For not letting me go out in public with a spaghetti sauce mustache

9. For taming my hair…even when I won’t sit still.

10. For choosing life…

11. For introducing me to my Creator.

12. For the doctors waiting rooms, the medicine, the holding me until I fall asleep, and all the tears that have soaked your shirt.

13. For making me eat my fruits and veggies…well…what was left of what I wasn’t able to sneak to the dog under the table.

14. For playing WITH me and not just sending me outside.

15. For supporting me in the good moments…

16. …and holding me in bad ones.

17. For teaching me the power of prayer.

18. For helping me through the morning routines, at least, that’s what we called it. I know ‘Morning Mayhem’ is probably a more accurate title.

19. For helping me find shoes that match (for the most part), helping me get them on the right feet (for the most part), and for tying them for me.

20. For being the grammar police with my homework. I guess you were right, I would thank you someday for doing that.

21. For loving me so selflessly and meeting every need, no matter how demanding.

22. For using tickling tactics to strengthen my bladder control.

23. For the time outs. At the time, they were so unfair, now I have kids…you were too nice.

24. For teaching me how to provide for my own family.

25. For getting candy-flavored cough medicine that made that disgusting taste a little more bearable.

26. For walking me to school. Uphill. Both Ways.

27. For teaching me that blisters and sweat are a gift, not a curse.

28. For leading with your actions more than your words.

29. For making your arms a safe zone and not complaining when I’d drool on you.

30. For loving me the way that you do!!!

Take a moment to thank that powerful, gracious, funny, loving, intelligent, and caring woman who made a difference in your life. While you’re at it, why not sponsor a child and their mother in a developing country. Your donation helps her provide for her child not just with food but also with the Gospel.

CLICK HERE to learn more about how you can be the Gospel that reaches the world.

Article originally featured on Compassion International.