January 15, 2017

Today is another Sunday.  Mom stayed home with Lance, and we enjoyed a wonderful sacrament meeting, even though we had to sit clear in the back again.  We were even early!  Our ward is getting too big again.

We got to go to Austin's "It's Great to be Eight" meeting at the Stake Center this evening.  He was so excited to learn all about the time when he will be baptized.  Our ward had nineteen children there who will turn eight and be baptized in 2017.  Sitting a whole head taller than everyone else, Austin had a huge smile on his face as the meeting got started.

It's hard to believe he is turning eight next month, even if he looks like a ten year old.  I remember when he was just a small baby and we moved all the way across the country.  We took up residence in the casita of Sunee and Kyle's house for a brief while, then rented their home for a while, and then moved into our home.  That all happened within a few short months.  Through all of that, Austin was such a happy baby.  He always just seemed to roll with the punches.  One day Mom was bouncing him happily on her knee when she commented on what a good baby he was.  She said, "He must be the best baby in the whole United States!"  I always remembered that and I've told that to Austin many times, much to his endless delight.  Now we say, "Austin loves life, and life loves Austin!" It is so true.  What a happy boy he is!

It's hard to see my babies grow up, but there are so many joys around every corner.  And so I'm looking forward to his birthday and his baptism.

Today I read about a little four-year-old girl who died from a brain tumor.  It was heartbreaking to read the recent pleas of her parents asking for prayers for their daughter.  The mother kept asking God to allow her daughter to grow up, to see what she would become.  I think as mothers, we sometimes wish so badly that our children didn't have to grow up.  I think that all the time.  But in the end, I really want that more than anything.  I want to watch Austin grow up.  I want to be part of his beautiful life.  I want to see who he will become.  And I am thankful every day for the nearly eight years that he has been mine.  The last thing the little girl's mother posted today said something like this: My daughter gained her angel wings today.  And I have no words, except to thank God for letting me be her mama.

That's how it is.  My Father in Heaven has allowed me to be a mama.  For that, I am so eternally grateful.  So grateful.

To Austin: It IS great to be eight.  And I'm thankful for EVERY day.