Celebrating Mothers
I woke up with a Janie Rose in our bed. She was snuggled up to her Daddy and I heard her tell him, "Jesus is going to fix baby Kevin's lip".
She's right, he'll heal his lip, his heart, and every other imperfect chromosome in his body.
Kloe made me a delicious breakfast!
Kevin took all the kids to church so I had a few minutes to myself. If I'm going to lose it I really try to do it while the kids aren't around. Which can be tricky with so many of them.
A grief counselor came to talk to us in the hospital to give us some advice and resources to turn to if we needed them. She said it's normal to feel sad and that you never know what might set off the tears. She said if it gets to the point where I stop taking care of myself we should get help. So I decided I'd better shower today since it's been a while since I had one and I don't want anyone worrying I've gone off the deep end :)
It was a wonderful Mother's Day! I have been blessed with wonderful Grandmothers, an amazing Mother, a great Mother-in-Law and 8 beautiful children--7 with me and 1 watching over us. I am very blessed. My Aunt Marlene reminded me of something my Great Grandma Child would say in regards to loved ones who have passed away,
"Now you have an anchor in heaven".
We told the kids tonight during dinner that baby Kevin is the first in our family to reach our family goal of returning to our Heavenly Father together as a family. One down, nine to go.
Love notes from Kloe and Gracie
My sister Megan sent me, my sisters and my mom this little Mother's Day note and I hope she doesn't mind me posting it...
I've been thinking a lot about the mothers in my life this morning and so many have impacted my life but the ones who stick out are definitely my own mother and my sisters. Being the youngest I have had the privilege of watching all my sisters become mothers and have watched my mother become a grandmother. It is a sweet thing to witness. I've seen them all grow in strength and faith and love as they learned what it meant to really be mothers. I've watched the process of motherhood mold them into selfless and Christ-like beings. I've seen the work and effort they put into creating strong families and the mothers of the stripling warriors like consistency they have in teaching their children the gospel. I've seen the absolute exhaustion that comes from giving everything they have to being a mother, and then observe as they somehow muster to give even more. I've seen them work hard to raise their children to be anchored in what is good and right. I've seen them protect and nurture and hold on so tightly to their children and, in some recent circumstances, I've seen them accept God's will and let their child go.
As I think about my sisters I can't help but feel that what they have become and what their children are becoming is directly correlated to how wonderful our mother is and what she taught us. We honor and revere motherhood because she does. We want to put our children and family first because she did. We want our children to be able to have the kind of mother we have so we put everything into it that she did and continues to still do.
My heart is full of love and gratitude to Heavenly Father for giving me my mother, my sisters who are now mothers, and the sacred privilege to one day become a mother myself. Thank you Mom, Becky, Tricia, Natalie, Mindy, Stephanie, and Kimmy for your example, your strength, your faith, and your zeal for motherhood. I am blessed to have you! I love you all very much.
Go HERE to read about dressing Baby Kevin for his burial.
