Honorable Mention - Michelle Mette
 This single mom nominee returned to school to become a teacher as a way to provide for her family and influence the lives of children in a significant way. She was selected "Teacher of the Year" last month for her school. She is involved in her children's sports, dance, 4-H, church youth group, Boy Scouts, and bravely supervised her oldest son for his driver's ed class. She is a faithful companion during the illnesses of her friends and has a great attitude even in the midst of problems.
Honorable Mention - Michelle Scism
 This woman is a ray of sunlight. As the only adult present financially and emotionally for her children, she does not complain about the enormous responsibility nor does she speak unkindly about the children's father. She unselfishly makes sacrifices to provide a stable, Christ-centered home. She spends the evening playing and reading to her children. Her home doesn't even have cable television. She involves her children in community activities and adopts a family at Christmas even though money is very tight. Her happy, polite children are a direct reflection of their mother, a woman who is raising her children to love God, respect others, and become the person God intended them to be. She is a prime example of how we all should live.
Third Runner-up Finalist - Betty Lowder
 Raising her own 3 children as a single mom wasn't enough. This finalist decided to become trained as an emergency foster mother. She kept 5 or 6 children at a time as a temporary placement, caring for approximately 250 children in her home, newborns to 6 years of age, over the course of 5 years. In October of 1999 her life changed dramatically when the youngest of a group of 5 brothers arrived on her doorstep. She later became aware of the other 4 brothers and a mother's love combined with a servant's heart set her on a journey to reunite these siblings. She boldly stood before a judge convincing him with her grit and fervor to keep the 5 brothers together. Later, when it became apparent that the boys' real parents might find them, she moved in order to protect them. In 2001 each of the children were given a diagnosis of being fetal alcohol and drug babies with each one exerting different needs. The most amazing detail about this story is that this single mom is 75 years old, or should I say 75 years young! Courage doesn't always "roar;" sometimes it is a "quiet" voice of compassion seeing a need and saying, "I can do this."
Second Runner-up Finalist - Rita Hernandez
 Physically and sexually abused since age 8; pregnant at age 14; a mother at age 15; living with a physical disability of a twisted foot; illiterate; living in poverty in a Matamoras, Mexico, city dump; digging in the trash to find things to sell in order to buy food for herself and her daughter - that is how this finalist's story begins. Discovered by local missionaries, this young woman relocated to the United States where her journey began in adjusting to a new culture. While undergoing numerous operations on a deformed ankle, this single mom pressed forward with great determination and perseverance. She has spent thousands of hours studying to graduate from college while continuing to carry out her single parent role: cleaning, cooking, shopping, and helping her daughter with homework and all the while learning the English language herself. For the last 10 years, she's tirelessly given back to her own church and community volunteering at the Bethel Foundation, a program that helps single moms.
First Runner-up Finalist - Michele Baker
 It was the first day of school for this finalist's daughter when a telephone call changed her life: her policeman husband had died. In one minute she went from being a wife and mother of two, to being a single mother. Life had already brought her challenges with the birth of her first child, who had been diagnosed as being mentally retarded. With reliance on her strong faith and a God who heals the broken-hearted, she bravely went about reforming life for herself and her children. With no family close by, she delved into remaking her life with God and her church family. She moved into an apartment and struggled as her son's behavior grew worse. This woman never gave up or turned bitter. With tension in the family from a teenage girl and a mentally challenged son, she gave each child the bedrooms in the apartment while she sleeps on the living room couch. Remarkably, she keeps going . . . she keeps smiling . . . and she keeps being there whenever anyone needs a friend. Every Sunday morning she arrives at church where she sings in the choir. She faithfully assists in Vacation Bible School and youth musicals while teaching Sunday School and remaining active in a single moms' class. Admired and loved because of her witness to the power of God, she demonstrates how Christ can enable every single mother to exude with God's strength.
Single Mother of the Year - Contessa Bass
 Her teenage son says about her in his nomination essay: "My mom just graduated from college and you probably don't think that's a big deal but she did it by herself with four boys, and you probably don't think that's a big deal, but us boys are not easy, we are NO PICNIC. We try, but we are just boys. My six year old brother has cerebral palsy, but mom never quit school when he was born early. They said he would never walk, but that didn't stop my mom. She taught him to crawl and then to walk. My mom says he is God's voice just by his actions. He got sick a lot and almost died, but mom never quit and never lost attention to the rest of us boys. When things happen, like her van blowing up, she says, ‘When God wants something done He moves mountains.'
My mom's always for the underdog. She cares more for the weak or lost people and she always feeds the kids that everyone else thinks are a waste of time. She says there's no such thing as bad kids, only bad choices. She always takes kids that don't fit in to church. She gives our money away to people she thinks need it more than we do. She says, "When you have nothing, you can give everything." I am dyslexic and my mom cleans houses on the side to pay for private tutoring. But my mom's still not done yet. She volunteers at Bradford Village Retirement Center and adopted some of the little ladies. She takes Miss Peggy out to eat every week. She took flowers to Miss Hearns who lost her son and my mom told her she was filling in for her son on Mother's Day until Miss Hearns gets up to heaven herself where her son can give her flowers.
My mom always volunteers me and my brother to go work for people and not get paid, and we didn't like it at first, but now I kinda see how we are God's hands. God gives her lots of extra energy cause He has so much for her to do. My mom never grumbles even when my brother is a pain in the neck or she only gets 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. She never complains like my other friends' moms about getting her hair done or her nails or cause she never goes on vacation. She says every day is a vacation at our house, but if we act up, she changes it to every day is a circus at our house. The most important thing is her sense of humor. She never stops smiling and laughing and dancing us around. She will run and play in the hail storm with us, and bakes cupcakes. This is important stuff to boys. Most important is that she talks about God and she thinks we are tuning her out, but we aren't. My mom makes me cry thinking about all she gives up. You can see heroes in Iraq or sport's heroes, but I have a hero in my house that really likes not to be noticed much, and she is my mom.
It's my great privilege to present to you Oklahoma's Single Mother of the Year for 2008: Contessa Bass
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