Congratulations to Angela Huston for winning JUARA's Mother's Day 2009 Contest

Thank you everybody for submitting your beautiful stories about why your mom is the best. There were several amazing essays to choose from. In the end, Angela Huston's touching story about her mother impressed us so much that we crowned her the winner of our Mother's Day 2009 Contest. Angela and her mother will each receive a $50 JUARA gift certificate to redeem on our site. Congratulations Angela! It is our pleasure to share with all of you her beautiful story and hope that it inspires you as much as it has inspired us.

Why my Mom is #1!

My Mom is the best Mom in the world because of THOUSANDS of reasons. First, she worked harder than most to become a mom. You see, she was unable to conceive and thus turned to adoption. After many years and heartbreak (one child she had for 4 months was taken back by his birth mother) she finally persevered in having a family when she adopted me. She was wonderful from day 1, always there for me 1000% of the time. I cannot remember a moment in my childhood when I doubted my mother's love or support of me. What makes her such a tremendous mother is because she is truly an amazing human being. Many years ago there was a neighbor family that was devastated by the death of the father; seeing the mother suffer a nervous breakdown and having no family nearby to help, my mother offered to take care of the preteen son, and he lived with us for a year. That is just one example of how generous my mother is. Recently, in her 60's, my mother helped a student from the college she works at. The student could not afford to stay in school and pay for rent but she refused to let him withdraw from College...My mom moved him into her house and gave him a room to stay in rent free for the remainder of his education! Her greatest lessons are not in what she told me but what she has SHOWN me. Now in her 70's, my mother continues to show my children what being a great human being is. Some may say she became my mother by chance, but I believe that some higher power had a hand in granting me the world's best mother! I thank God for her every day, and hope that I become half the human being that my mother is.

Angela Huston