The Dayton Daily News' Miami Valley Mother of the Year! (It's Val!)

(Richard Here)

All-

We’ve already mentioned this to some of you, but I wanted to share the exciting news about Val. Her mom nominated her for the Dayton Daily News’ “Miami Valley Mother of the Year” award, and a few weeks ago we found out that she had been selected to be the winner. They came to our house and interviewed her and spent a day taking pictures and video for the article. Since Val’s never one to brag, I’m going to do it for her – so here’s the URL for the article:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/oh/story/opinions/columns/2008/05/11/ddn051108motheroftheyear.html

And here’s a link to the video:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/m/content/oh/media/video/news/index.html?bcpid=1459469120&bclid=1486914913&bctid=1543236809

Cheers!
Richard

Valerie here:

A few weeks ago, as I was leaving my doctor's office after finding out I had strep throat yet again, completely miserable, with all 5 kids in tow, my cell phone rang. It was my mom. She was calling to give me an early Mother's Day gift. She told me that, several weeks prior, she had sent a letter to Dayton Daily News journalist, Dale Huffman, nominating me for the Miami Valley Mother of the Year, a tradition that he began 24 years ago. After weeks of pouring over hundreds of letters of nomination, Mr. Huffman and his committee had chosen me as the Miami Valley Mother of the Year for 2008. I was completely overwhelmed by this honor and immediately burst into tears (my kids probably thought I had lost my mind).

I could not, and still cannot, believe that I had been chosen out of hundreds of amazing and well-deserving mothers to represent the mother's of the Miami Valley as Mother of the Year. I am truly humbled. I was honored to share my story with the Dayton Daily News, not because I felt I deserved to be recognized in this way, but because I wanted to share with all that will read it, how truly blessed I feel to be the mother of 5 truly incredible children who I am blessed and privileged to be raising. This honor also gave me the opportunity to share my passion for adoption and the chance to promote all of the organizations that aided us in our adoptions, who work tirelessly to improve the lives of children across the world, something that I have been longing to do since before we even began our own adoption journey. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity that this has given me to be a voice for His children.

I was a bit nervous at how it would all turn out seeing as the past few weeks have been a bit of a bumpy ride and we had to get creative to fit interviews and photo shoots in between illness, hospital stays, doctors appointments and nurse visits, but I am very happy with the final product (although, after watching the video, I wish I would've put on a little more make up to hide the enormous circles under my eyes and my pasty, pale lips. . . but that is the vain side of my speaking!). Not all of the details are 100% accurate, but with so much information to gather and pack into one short article, I have no complaints!

Mr. Huffman, who is battling cancer and has been away from work since late January to receive medical treatment, put his heart and soul into this article and this makes this honor so much greater to me. Again, I am truly humbled. Mr. Huffman is back in the hospital after undergoing another surgery on Thursday, so if you could all keep him in your prayers, I know he would greatly appreciate it.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing mothers out there! Be sure to keep scrolling for some great Mother's Day pictures from my sweet kiddies!