A Special Homecoming

Audrey served in the Salt Lake City, Temple Square Mission.  As always, she followed a spiritual prompting with swiftness and exactness.  She got her papers in two short days after receiving the strong urge to serve.  I am always amazed at her obedience.  She met amazing people and established deep friendships and bonds.  She learned the Italian language well enough to give tours and speak to visitors in their language.  As she does with everything, she gave her 110% effort and worked herself to the bone.  About 13 months into her mission, her body had had enough.  Something triggered her autoimmune diseases and her body started to say enough was enough.  Her mission president released her with honor and she came home a broken shell of herself, having served with all her might.  I think the blessings and eternal lessons from her mission will continue to be realized for the rest of her life.  I am grateful that she chose to serve the Lord with all of her strength.  I am so proud of her.  This captured moment of her hugging her dad was priceless.  We were lucky enough to get to spend three unexpected months with her at home while she recovered.  Little did we know that it was the last time she would be living under our roof!  She will be married in April.  Life is full of unexpected twists and turns.  It was quite a road to help restore her health including a very strict diet and supplements.  I took on another part time job cooking everything from whole foods to help with her inflammation.  She was very dedicated to get better and did everything she was asked to do.  I loved the gift of extra time we had together and I am so glad she is on the road to recovery!  
 

The Closing of a Chapter

I am realizing that the season of life I am currently in is all about the closing of chapters.  Just as we have to open our hearts to make space for each new baby in the early years of a growing family, we have to brace ourselves to give away a part of our heart as each child leaves the nest.  These photos were taken on the last night that we spent with Rachel.  The last image is the next morning as we had our last group hug before driving away and leaving her miles and miles behind us as we traveled back to Texas.  That night as I laid down to go to sleep, I sobbed.  It seems impossible to let go of a child.  Much to her dismay, I have logged a lot of hours fretting and worrying about Rachel.  She has been faced with so many challenges in her short life.  I often want to take them away from her.  I have had to learn to watch and to wait and to trust.  It can be excruciating at times.  But, I know that this is all part of the plan.  These are sweet memories with our beautiful girl.  Our time at home with her was sacred.  I am excited to watch, and wait, and trust, as she spreads her wings.  The sunset that night mirrored the sun setting on her time at home with us, and it did justice to what was so beautiful.  

Rachel Bee gets Surgery

 

If there was anything that I was dreading in 2023 it was this surgery!  I can think of few things I have dreaded more.  When Rachel was born, I looked at her tiny, beautiful face and knew that the day would come that she would want to change it.  Her last surgery for her cleft lip was at six months old.  I decided then that any future repairs would be her choice to make.  During her senior year, she started talking about getting a cleft lip repair.  Insurance has been a big struggle for Rachel because she has so many pre-existing conditions.  Private insurance companies continually denied her coverage over the years.  It was hard to visualize how we were going to make this surgery happen.  When she moved to Utah, Julie helped her apply for an insurance program.  She was approved!  Rachel wasted no time finding a doctor and scheduling a consultation.  The whole process felt divinely lead.  The doctor was amazing and also had connections to one of my high school friends.  I was able to get rave reviews of his character and work.  I flew to Utah to help Rachel with the surgery.  She put on a brave face, as always.   I am amazed at her fearlessness and grace through trials.  She is so strong.  We made memories making chex muddy buddies, lounging in Grammy and Granddad's bed, watching hours of "This is Us," and taking a drive up the canyon to beat the stir crazies.  She is so patient.  I love this little girl and the beautiful woman she is growing into.  We have had many such memories of hospitals and doctors and recoveries.  Somehow the memories are always sweet in the end.  I believe that is because of who she is.  It is hard not to feel uplifted around her.  Her humor always softens the struggle.  

And then there were Seven . . .

I woke up this morning with a desire to write on this blog.  It has been years and so much has happened.  I miss documenting the simple and the significant.  BIG BIG news for our family is that we are adding a new member!  Justus (Jay) King will be marrying into the family on April 11th, 2023.  The weirdest part about this news is that is it not weird.  I feel really great about these two.  They met in an online zoom class during the pandemic.  He was impressed enough with Audrey that he drove all the way to Rexburg from Saratoga Springs, Utah to take her on a date.  On another occasion, he drove all the way there just to pick her up and give her a ride back to visit my parents for the weekend.  He felt that she was it for him pretty early on in their relationship.  Things were just getting started when she went on her mission.  He told her that he was going to wait for her and that he would be there when she got home.  He was so supportive to her throughout her mission, never missing a week to write or send her a message and sending her packages to lift her spirits.  When she came home early from her mission from illness, he flew right to Texas to see her.  He has been waiting for her since they met.  Well, he's done waiting! They just got engaged and will be married in three short months!  I'm a bit overwhelmed about planning my first wedding but I couldn't be more excited for these cute kids.