On a date this last weekend Dave and I got Max’s p-day email right as we were walking out of a movie.  (We get his letters on Friday nights now since his p-day is on Saturday while he’s in the office and he’s fifteen hours ahead of us.)
And every time our email in-boxes light up with that Elder of ours our hearts start pumping extra fast.  He doesn’t write a ton, but oh boy it is so great to hear from him.  And when we happen to be online at the same time we can email back and forth for a minute.
So that particular Friday night we found an abandoned picnic table and emailed questions back and forth for a few minutes.  One of Max’s to us was “how is life with three kids at home?” to which Dave responded, “Great!  We love it!”
And I looked at him with a smile, because you know what?  We do love it.  
Of course that doesn’t mean we don’t miss those older two so much it physically hurts at times.  (I was tearing up listening to “Fix You” while making dinner the other night because it reminds me so much of Max, and every time we FaceTime with Elle I think I just might give away my right arm to give her a big, giant hug.)
But despite the missing, we do love having these three girls of ours all to ourselves:

It’s not quite as simple as I thought it would be…I still haven’t tackled a fraction of the things I dreamed life would spread out to let me bite into, and just because two are gone doesn’t mean they don’t take up a huge chunk of their mother’s heart (and also time because there is always something to send, something to pray for, something to worry about).

But these three spunky girls of ours are FUN I tell you!

They make us laugh.  We are more spontaneous.  They are still young so we don’t have college looming ahead just yet.  The house stays so much cleaner (for real, which is weird because Max and Elle aren’t particularly messy, there’s just less “stuff” around).  And it feels good to let them be the “stars” when Max and Elle have taken that spot for the last couple years.

And I love love love watching and hearing the things Max and Elle are learning and how they’re growing in ways they never could at home.  It is a pretty amazing feeling as a mother to feel so at peace as to what your kids are doing who are far away from you.

I’ve mentioned before that my sister cracks us up when we get together because she always says, “my kids are in the best stage!” no matter what stage it is.  And you know what?  She’s right.  Just like I didn’t know to look forward to having teenagers, I didn’t know to look forward to this stage either. Motherhood sure takes you on a crazy and sometimes unexpected ride I tell you!

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2 Comments

  1. Just really enjoyed today's post. Thank you. I raised my only child with the philosophy that children are to be enjoyed and not endured. Now that she is married, I am grateful I can read your blog each week and enjoy vicariously!

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