…and then come back.

It’s like there’s a magic in the air around here since Max returned for Thanksgiving early Friday morning.  

I don’t know that there could be four more adoring sisters trying to soak up that brother of theirs right now.
It’s like the relationships have blossomed and there’s a maturity about them like never before.
Everyone wants to sit by him and show them a zillion new things since he left three months ago.
This one especially can hardly leave his side:

I love this sequence of pictures when Dave and I were trying to get a shot with just him.
Lu just couldn’t quite leave the huddle;)

Yes it is indeed a bitter/sweet thing to have your child leave you.  It’s like ripping your heart out and letting it live in a different place for a while.  And that “while” only gets longer, especially when we hit January 20th and he leaves for Taiwan.  But there are magical moments in between, on the phone, during a visit, watching him interact with others over Facetime, when you watch him become himself more than ever and it makes all the heart-rip-wounds heal a thousand times over.
It is grand to be a mother.

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11 Comments

  1. I SO appreciate these posts! With my oldest son being 16, it's comforting to watch your family go through the same life experiences that await just about all of us – like a child leaving the nest. I really appreciate that you acknowledge both the heartache and the joy, while choosing to focus on being upbeat and positive – seeking the good. Thanks so much for your authenticity. It helps others more than you realize. 🙂

  2. I can't believe how adorable your whole extended family is- I was just viewing the website your parents made about all their kids and I didn't know where to comment that I thought yours must be the sweetest family ever, so I'm leaving the comment here!

  3. Hi! I have a question for you. I'm sorry to reach out on a comment to this cute post but didn't know how else to do so. I was wondering if you could tell me if you shrink your photo files for long term storage (to back up on a hard drive or online). I shoot with a mark ii (in RAW) and my files are way too huge! I usually edit and save them as jpegs but I don't know how small to make them without making them too small. I hope I'm making sense. I'm just eating up way too much storage and am having a hard time finding the info I need online. I thought I'd ask another mom who seems to take a lot of pictures. Thank you!

  4. We just dropped our son off a week ago at the MTC. He will be serving in Minnesota and this has been one of the most difficult and rewarding times of our lives. Sure do enjoy your blog, thank you for sharing your journey with the rest of us!

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