The following testimonial is from Heidi Tecklenburg, a winning mom from the 2019 Why Mom Deserves a Diamond contest. Thank you Heidi, for sharing your experience.

Rewind to May 2012, when I was 45 years old, I never imagined that I would ever have a child call me MOM other than my 4-legged fur babies. I was selfish, career oriented, anything I wanted I just made happen or bought for myself, and I was “living the life” with my Babe. I was simply NOT MOM material.

Then tragedy struck! My sister, Rebecca, passed away just a few days before her 32nd birthday. Enter 3-year-old Bella into our home and changing my life as I knew it – forever. There is no book on how to be an instant parent, or any parent for that matter. No idea what I was doing, but how hard could it be? Use common sense, I guess… And a little guidance from up above.

Fast forward to March 2019. Bella, now 10, comes home from school a couple of weeks ago and shows me that she won a contest at school. She explained that her teacher invited the kids in the class to write something about their Moms in 22 words or less and entered them all in the 27th annual “Why Mom Deserves a Diamond” contest.

Guess what happens next… Yep! She wins a genuine, unmounted garnet to be presented to me! I asked her what she wrote and she told me she couldn’t tell me. She said she would read it to me at the jewelry store and that I was going to cry.

Last night – Bella, being, from what I’ve heard, the “typical” tween, starts mouthing off, stomping her feet, flapping her arms around, and flailing on the ground like it’s the end of HER world, when I asked her to clean her closet. What does that non-existent parenting book tell me to do? Take away her cell phone, her chrome book and both kindles! And I’m thinking to myself… she won a contest for me? And I picture my sister looking down at us and laughing her ass off.

Today – Enter Diamond Mike. We walk into the Gallery of Diamonds Jewelers; Bella proudly carrying her award certificate in hand. Mike Watson, as kind as anyone you’d ever want to meet, explains the concept behind this contest that he founded in 1993 in honor of his adoptive mother and birth mother, to allow kids to express their appreciation for their own mothers or women of influence. He then allows Bella to choose from a pile of garnets the perfect stone for me. Then he hands her contest entry to her for her to read to me. Yes, I cried. And I realized I must be doing something right… Oh, I’m still a little selfish, but oh how I love this kid who all consumes my life!

What am I going to do with an unmounted garnet, you ask? Well, Bella decided I should have a ring. Not a necklace; a ring! And I’ll be damned if she didn’t choose exactly what I would have chosen for myself. (With a little help from my sister, I think.)

This program made her feel so important and me so special! Our trip to Diamond Mike’s was perfect! Just perfect! We also found out that Bella and Mike had much more than adoption in common!

Thank you, Mike, for this wonderful gift you give to our kids. – Written by Heidi Tecklenburg.