Every life, every heartbeat, every first breath of air begins with a mother.
Delene Christiansen was born in Salt Lake City, UT. She always had a dream of being a mother. She
would often go visit her grandparents in Fayette, UT where she would sometimes stay all summer long. While in Fayette she met a boy named Keith. She convinced him to marry her after his mission and they went off to Cedar City for school. While there they got surprised with being pregnant. Soon, they got a bigger surprise with twins. Being three hours away from family, they worked hard and did what they had to do for Keith to finish his education. They finished school and found their way back to Fayette to start a career.
When the twins were four, Keith and Delene had another baby. Four years later they had another. Then the avalanche came. In the four years after their 4th child, they had 3 more. Four years later they were surprised with their last, and their best child. They gave birth to a legend, me. Now in case you’ve lost count that is 8 children. I have two children, and that is hard enough. But my mother raised each of us with tender and care.
She was a school teacher on top of all of that and made sure that all of us had a good education. She always had us reading and typing. She would also make sure we kept up on our math. Every summer she would get these workbooks for us and we would have to finish one each day before we could play. My mother has a love of books and has passed it on to me. I remember she would always have a book for me to read. And then she would have me tell her what I read to make sure I read it. I’m sure she knew she didn’t have to ask me what I read but it was a great time to have a conversation and I usually learned something from it.
Mom also taught us about the gospel and would always tell us scripture stories. She would sometimes give prizes out to whoever could memorize scriptures that she would put up on the fridge. Church was important to my mom as well and she was always busy in some calling or another.
My mom also taught us to work hard and be thrifty. Mom was always on the sewing machine mending our clothes, or making new ones. She taught us how to harvest vegetables from our very large garden and then how to preserve them. She also taught us the rewards as we were able to sneak fresh peas and beans into our mouths as we picked them. My mom worked hard day and night and I never knew how much she did until recently.
She was always there to wake us in the morning for school and was usually the last one to go to sleep. I honestly don’t know if she ever had time for herself or did anything for herself. She devoted everything she had into us kids to give us a great life.
Did I mention that we were all active in community activities? Baseball, football, wrestling, tennis,
basketball, scouting, plays, dancing, piano lessons, you name it. I seriously don’t know how she
managed everything. But through it all I never felt neglected. I was able to play any sport or do any
activity I wanted. Last week Bishop Adams mentioned how his mother would stand up on the chairs
with her hands in the air screaming and cheering. He could have been describing my mom. She was my biggest cheerleader. When I was in wrestling, we had a standing joke that my friend Huston and I had moms that were constantly competing for top mom cheerleader. They would scream and holler no matter which of my teammates were wrestling but they would especially go crazy if it was us. We loved it and I always felt supported and loved by my mom.
My mom is truly my hero. Her faith and love and knowledge that she shared with me will always remain with me. I have never met a more selfless person. When she wasn’t taking care of us kids, it seemed she was taking care of a sick neighbor or helping out with the relief society. She loves everyone and does not judge. She has taught me more about giving someone the benefit of the doubt than I could begin to mention.
