Thoughts

I have been doing a bit of thinking and soul searching lately.
I have come to the conclusion that I am very grateful that in this life I have had the opportunity to be a Daughter, sibling, Granddaughter, Wife, Mother, Aunt, Grandmother and a great grandmother. I consider each and every one of these to be a great blessing in my life.

As a mother I wish I had been more patient with my children, realized that they would grow up and leave home eventually. I wish I would have taken the time to enjoy each stage of the life of each child more fully.

I have often felt that it would have been wonderful and insightful, if each child had come with their own instruction manual.

We have five children, James, Jennifer, Todd, Shawn, and Kristi. Each child was raised in the same home with the same parents, same rules, so how is it even possible that each child has turned out to be so individual and different from each other.

Maybe this explains part of it, In church yesterday we learned that we have always existed as intelligences, And It was our Heavenly Father who created spiritual bodies to house each intelligence, and then mortal bodies for us to come and dwell on this earth to gain experience. That might explain why each child as they joined our family had their own distinct personality even at birth.

I heard a saying once that goes something like this, "If you love something, set it Free, If it returns to you, it is yours, if it does't return, it was never yours to begin with."

I have always tried to raise my children to be independant individuals, So as the time came to set each child free, It came as a great shock to me how difficult it was
to let each child go. Luckily each child has returned to us as independant individuals who love their parents, and each child now has a family of their own. What a great blessing that has been, as I really worried that a couple of them would not want to return once they left.

While spending some time with Kristi and her family in April 2009, Kristi asked me to share some memories with Gwen of Kristi when she was growing up. I was stumnped, not to many things came to mind, So I have been doing some thinking and trying to remember experiences with each child, who will now be known in my future posting of each child as,

James: Mr. Independant
Jennifer: The Little Mom
Todd: Our Free Spirit
Shawn: The Rebellious One
Kristi: Our Animal Lover

I may add memories of each child from time to time, so if interested please check
back from time to time.