As far as being a role model goes, Newport Beach mother Alanna Psomas had a pretty full plate raising four children and nine grandchildren.
Now, she and three other women find themselves as Orange County's stand-up examples of motherhood.
Psomas, Kathleen McGaughan of Irvine, Diann LeVecke of Villa Park and Bonnie Allen-Luna of Irvine were honored Thursday night as the 2012 Casa Teresa Mother of the Year award winners.
"I think it's wonderful that I'm being an example," Psomas, 72, said. "I think it's a lovely thought that just doing what I'm doing is showing the new young mothers at Casa Teresa, who are being trained to be independent and to be leaders, that you can be a mother and still be your very own self. It is a marvelous thing to learn."
The event at the Hyatt Regency Irvine drew more than 300 supporters and past and present residents of Casa Teresa, a homeless shelter in Orange for pregnant women.