Do You Know Jane Elizabeth Meissner?

May is a month that gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the amazing mothers in our lives. The True North Team ran a Momma Makeover contest for the April/May issue. We received so many touching entries with such inspirational stories that it was almost painful to only pick two winners. While we weren’t able to provide all of these amazing moms with a makeover, we would like to celebrate them and those who nominated them by sharing their stories throughout this month. We hope they will touch you the way they touched us, or at least remind you to give that special mom in your life just a little extra love each day.

Jane Elizabeth Meissner

My Mom...Hmmm where to start? My Mom is Jane Elizabeth Meissner of the Central Oregon skiing Meissner's of course. If I were asked what is it that sticks out the most about my mom throughout my life it would be how kind and generous she has always been to everyone and how much she loves the outdoors. My Mom was born May 27th, 1951. She grew up spending the school year in Bend, Oregon and living and working the Summer's at Odell Lake. She was a downhill ski coach at Mount Bachelor during her teen years and was brought up to love and treasure the outdoors in every aspect of life. Once my Sister, Ariane and I were born, we were taught the same. From the time we were about 18 months old, she had us on cross country skis for the first time. It was always a joy for her to see us as kids enjoying the wonders of the Central Oregon outdoors as much as she has. When I was about seven, my Grandmother, Virginia Meissner died of Cancer. My Mom took over her classes at COCC as a skiing and hiking instructor and wilderness guide. She spent her days instructing others and sharing her love of the outdoors with everyone she came to cross paths with. Everyone that she taught always heard about what kind of flowers were along the trail during the hiking ventures, or what type of birds there were flying above on the snowy ski trails. If they walked away taking one new thing learned from the experience, she was happy. I remember going to the Swampy Lakes trail and mom pointing out the Junko's and saying "Hey girls look at this!" as she pulled out a piece of her peanut butter sandwich and held it out, the Junko would land on her finger and take the bread. She has always been so wonderful when it came to nature and kindness. She taught skiing and hiking in Central Oregon for over twenty years and always followed her passion no matter how little money it made.


No matter what my Mom has gone through, I can always remember her being strong. When her Mother died, when she and my Father were divorced and then again when her Father, Jack Meissner died she was strong and determined to make it through, a better, stronger person in the end. Not only has my Mom been strong during her own trials, but has been determined to be strong for us girls as well.

I have been in the Marine Corps for ten years now and cannot remember a single time when my Mom has not been there for me physically, emotionally, or otherwise. I've always had some digestive issues and every time I see her to this day she is bringing me digestive enzymes and gluten free food, things that will make me feel better and keep me healthy. There was never a time that I can remember that she has not tried to take care of me.

When the time came for me to have my own children, I birthed a son, Maddox on December 24th 2005. You'd better believe she was on the first plane out to take care of me and to see her new Grandson. And again when my Sister had her son, Dutch in March of 2009. She is a proud, caring, loving Grandmother to both boys and once again has them enjoying the outdoors and on skis already.

When it comes down to it she has always thought about everyone else but herself. She cares about everyone she comes across and wants to make sure that they enjoy everything that this earth has to provide. Once she retired from skiing and hiking, she started working cleaning jobs part time to make money and also so she could make her own schedule to still have time to go skiing and hiking at least once a week with her friends.

She spends most of her days wearing work clothes and cleaning gloves, not the most glamorous of jobs, but very deserving of respect.

I think my Mom, Jane Meissner deserves this makeover because she has always spent her hard earned money and precious time making sure that the people surrounding her were always having a good time, whether she was being paid for it, or not and no matter how old us girls get, she's still there for us, no matter what. I used to say to her, "Mom, your the best Mom in the world!" and with all that I've been through in my life and seen, she is still the kindest, most generous, loving Mom in the world!



Thank you,

Amber Viola Cross

Do you know Meghan Evans?

May is a month that gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the amazing mothers in our lives. The True North Team ran a Momma Makeover contest for the April/May issue. We received so many touching entries with such inspirational stories that it was almost painful to only pick two winners. While we weren’t able to provide all of these amazing moms with a makeover, we would like to celebrate them and those who nominated them by sharing their stories throughout this month. We hope they will touch you the way they touched us, or at least remind you to give that special mom in your life just a little extra love each day.

Loving our children, for all of us, is the easy part. Meghan, aka mama, does not get special points for loving this incredible chunky-monkey of beautiful baby that has blessed our lives. The joy of that love is the fuel for this journey of parenthood.


The marvel of mommy-hood often exists in the mundane. Meghan keeping the fridge full while feeding dada and searching for different foods for Hope to try approvingly and disapprovingly (sometimes daily), cleaning a toy scattered home, feeding the pets, running errands, making those endless call backs, handling this repair and that service, these take so much of a mommy’s time. I can hear Meghan saying “please nap just a little longer so I can…vacuum, wash, clean the bath, etc”.

Toss on top of those chores a woman running her own design business, somehow kept afloat in a terrible economy, with phone calls, emails, and appointments timed around naps and one daddy-daughter day a week. A woman who, while pregnant, began a charity to help feed horses of families hit by the economy. That charity has now fed over a hundred horses through last winter and so far this winter.

There is no day care, nor nanny, nor cleaning service in Meghan’s world. Wonderful necessities those are for many people. And a wonderful gift that we have been able to have Hope with us these first fifteen months of her life. Now Meghan is handling all these challenges while carrying baby two. Nausea and tiredness included free of charge.

As the “dada”, I am endlessly impressed by what my wife can handle. I respect and admire her more than she probably knows. And, quite simply, I could not handle my life without the support and patience Meghan freely gives daily. She certainly earns my respect and admiration a hundred times over.

However, the love I feel, the joy that sends me soaring, comes in the person I see Hope becoming. She is such a happy baby, full of smiles and laughs, daily learning new things taught to her in a loving fun way. I come home from work and mommy says, “Hope, what does a duck say?” and yes the little quacks are too cute for words. “Hope, show daddy your nose…and your ears...and your feet”. “Hope, where is your kitty in the puzzle, where’s the cow, and the sheep?” Hope helps dress herself, holds a spoon (successfully reaching her mouth with food now and again), she knows many signs, and many activities. These are not boasts about an exceptional baby; I know babies are learning these things all the time. However, these things have to be taught, they take time and patience. For Hope to learn these in a happy fun way from a mom that handles all those other stresses of life, that to me is remarkable. So many moms are remarkable, Hope and I just happen to believe ours is the best!

Meet Agatha

Check out Agatha!  She is a special edition True North Monster from Monster Love.  Find out who won this adorable monster by visiting the True North FB Page.  Check out Monster Love on Face Book and find out more about these cool little creatures. If you haven't become a fan, click the Like button and be automatically entered to win drawings taking place the rest of this week.

Celebrating 1000 + Fans. Win With TN!

Today True North is celebrating reaching over 1000 fans on Facebook! We will be sending out a big Thank You to all of our fans by giving away some cool TN Schwag (we love that word) over the next week by drawing names at random and announcing the winners on facebook and twitter.

Today’s giveaway will be the first ever True North Monster from Monster Love. These little creatures are super cute and everyone is talking about them. Find out more here.

Tomorrow’s giveaway is a chunky headband from White Bat. This is one of the True North’s Editor in Chief’s favorite items from White Bat. It will become one of yours too! Check out White Bat here.

Monday’s winner will get to order a basic boutique tutu up to 5 colors with no embellishments any size from newborn to 4T from BooKoos of TuTus. Check out Bookoos here.

There is still time to be entered to win. Just go to our facebook page and click the Like button. Suggest it to you friends so they have a chance to win too!

Thanks again everyone!

Do you know Bonnie Criswell?

May is a month that gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the amazing mothers in our lives. The True North Team ran a Momma Makeover contest for the April/May issue. We received so many touching entries with such inspirational stories that it was almost painful to only pick two winners. While we weren’t able to provide all of these amazing moms with a makeover, we would like to celebrate them and those who nominated them by sharing their stories throughout this month. We hope they will touch you the way they touched us, or at least remind you to give that special mom in your life just a little extra love each day.

My mom is the most amazing woman I know. Over the years her strength has been what has kept me going. She has had many many hardships throughout her life and has continued to overcome and be stronger in the end. She has truly shown me what it takes to be a woman, mother, wife, daughter and friend. Some of the hardships are: her first husband was killed by a drunk driver when she was 8 months pregnant with my sister (and had my brother 3 years old at home too), her mother passed away from breast cancer when I was little, her second husband made some horrible choices and left her with 4 kids, 2 of whom were teenagers and 2 who were very close and in October of 2007 we lost my sister to brain cancer, who was only 34. Watching her over the years and her being strong when the world was falling down around us has instilled something very deep inside me. I know that no matter what is thrown my way, I do have the power and the choice to go on and see what tomorrow brings. Now as she is still mom but also gets to be Nana to my kids it's so fun to watch and see even now how each day she becomes more and more beautiful. She deserves more than I'll ever be able to give her.

Do you know Rebecca Singer?

May is a month that gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the amazing mothers in our lives. The True North Team ran a Momma Makeover contest for the April/May issue. We received so many touching entries with such inspirational stories that it was almost painful to only pick two winners. While we weren’t able to provide all of these amazing moms with a makeover, we would like to celebrate them and those who nominated them by sharing their stories throughout this month. We hope they will touch you the way they touched us, or at least remind you to give that special mom in your life just a little extra love each day.

Rebecca Singer

My mom, Rebecca Singer, deserves to win the Momma Makeover contest because she is the ideal mother. Even as a teenager I still consider her my best friend, and I cant even begin to imagine life without her. She is the one I have always idolized and I aspire to be just like her when I grow up. She is caring, nice, funny, and an all over amazing person. She is a mother of 3 and with a 16, 14, and 5 year old on her hands she is ALWAYS on the go. She has gone through SOO much in the last year including Alopecia Universalis where she lost all her hair in one week, and skin cancer. I would never be able to stay as strong as she did through the whole process and couldn't imagine anyone handling it better.

 

I know that in any time of need she will always be there for me and my sisters, and supports us 100%. She can always make me feel better when I am down and does whatever it takes to make me laugh. I love everything about her and the way that even when a day is not so good, she looks at it on the positive side. My favorite thing to do with my mom is sit down after school and drink a cup of tea.

 

When I was little I used to beg her to come into school as my " show & tell" because she was my favorite thing, though of course I always had to end up bringing in a stuffed animal of some sort even though the two didn't even begin to compare. I have never been embarrassed to tell my mom anything because my sisters and I know that no matter what, she will not be the one to judge. Whenever I am sick, she stays by my side the whole time and does anything she can to make me better. I know that my mom is an amazing mom because not only is she loved by our family but also all of my friends. Infact sometimes I am not sure whether my friends come over to see me or my mom, and they quickly begin to call her there own mother!! I am proud to have the mother I do and wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. I would love my mom to win the Momma Makeover because I know it would make her happy and she deserves it entirely! :)
 
Nominated by Olivia Singer

Do You Know Julie Yarbrough

May is a month that gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the amazing mothers in our lives. The True North Team ran a Momma Makeover contest for the April/May issue. We received so many touching entries with such inspirational stories that it was almost painful to only pick two winners. While we weren’t able to provide all of these amazing moms with a makeover, we would like to celebrate them and those who nominated them by sharing their stories throughout this month. We hope they will touch you the way they touched us, or at least remind you to give that special mom in your life just a little extra love each day.

Meet Julie Yarbrough

(submitted by Michael Yarbrough)

My wife Julie and I are parents of 4 year old triplets and I think she deserves your Mother's Day makeover. She was on bed rest her entire pregnancy. She was so sick the first five months that she could hardly get out of bed and then the next two months she remained on bed rest just to keep the babies from coming premature. She took 33 shots a week just to keep them alive. She went into the hospital at 27 weeks and then had the babies at 29 weeks and 2 days. Our babies were extremely ill. Two stayed in the hospital for two months and our other one stayed for three and one half months. She went to visit them every day. In that time she also had severe post-partum depression and also had a grand mal seizure. Her Mom died unexpectedly when the kids were 14 months old. She was so devastated but continued on because her kids needed her.

I myself have had chronic back problems and have had six back surgeries the latest just 10 days ago. I am not able to help her out a lot because of my chronic pain. She has faithfully taken care of me and the kids without complaining only saying that she is tired especially at the end of the day. She hardly does anything for herself but is always thinking and doing for others. Having triplets is extremely hard and exhausting everyday. It never gets easier it just presents new challenges on a daily basis. I think you should pick my wife as one of your Mother's Day makeover candidates. She deserves to be pampered, and she would be thrilled to receive such a wonderful gift. She truly deserves this. She never stops and always puts other people first especially Amanda, Brian and Lance the children she waited for for so long. Being a Mom had always been a dream of hers and now she enjoys it on a daily basis even when she wants to pull her hair out. Being called Mom puts a smile on her face and when the kids tell her they love her, it puts a smile in her heart. Her Mom would be so proud of her and so am I.

Do You Know Julie?

May is a month that gives us all the opportunity to celebrate the amazing mothers in our lives. The True North Team ran a Momma Makeover contest for the April/May issue. We received so many touching entries with such inspirational stories that it was almost painful to only pick two winners. While we weren’t able to provide all of these amazing moms with a makeover, we would like to celebrate them and those who nominated them by sharing their stories throughout this month. We hope they will touch you the way they touched us, or at least remind you to give that special mom in your life just a little extra love each day.

Julie

(Nominated by Krista Lauinger)

The mom I am writing about today, is not my mom, nor a relative of mine in any way, but she more than qualifies to win your mom makeover contest! I first met her and her family when they rented the vacation rental home behind us for 7 months. Why 7 months you ask? Because her husband was about to be deployed and they moved here temporarily to be close to his parents while he is away.
Julie is a mom of 4 young children, ages 10 – ½ yrs old. She moved to a new town she knew nothing about and then became a single mom of 4 while her husband is deployed to Qatar. Since they came in the middle of the school year and will only be here a short time, they decided to home school. So she home schools her kids while being mom and dad to them. She does an AMAZING job fulfilling all the many roles she is required to do right now. She never complains and always has a smiling face and kind heart when one of the kids is having their own hard time missing daddy! They talk to him often on the phone and on Skype, but obviously that doesn’t replace the physical presence and embracing arms of dad and husband. Julie is a saint for all she does and with such a great attitude she joyfully takes on what most of us would consider an unbearable uphill battle for 7 (not so short) months!
The events and special days during the year that we all take for granted might be a little different if we had to celebrate them minus our spouse and our kids dad! But Julie celebrates despite and has a formidable spirit that is an encouragement to all she meets. Anytime I feel like complaining about the little things in life, laundry, dishes, diapers, kids complaining or long nights, all I have to do is remember Julie and be grateful that she (and her husband) is sacrificing so we may all enjoy our freedom in the USA one more day! I appreciate her and her family’s sacrifice to our country, more than I know how to adequately express.

As Julie embraces each and every day with a vigor that is contagious, she doesn’t have the time or energy to worry about herself and the little things that make us all feel so good. Julie is a gorgeous woman now and the extra time and special attention that your contest would gift her with, would only enhance all of who she is as well as encourage her in mind, body and spirit! Please seriously consider Julie for your mom makeover contest!