Coming Home -

It's six o' clock in the morning and I have a full day ahead of me. Rarely do I have to actually adorn myself in much more than pajama bottoms, but this week I am due at the office. I've just begun the three-step process of getting boys out of bed and I sit here with wet hair that is threatening to dry in a relentless form of a bird's nest due to the forecast of great humidity. So why am I sitting here? Because my mind is bursting and if I don't place it somewhere, it will be an ugly and quite unprofessional scene right in the middle of a work day.

For those of you who have not been through sending a child on a mission, let me walk you through it. Twenty-one years ago, I had a baby boy. He was a hefty nine pounds, but entered this world with a somewhat unhealthy body. He stayed in the hospital for ten days and then we brought him home. My life would never be the same again, in fact, this is the day that my life would begin. From this point forward, my entire being would revolve around the well-being, worrying and nurturing of this little one. I remember very clearly wondering how in the world I would be able to let him go and send him willingly wherever Heavenly Father would call him. I also remember Matthew's concerns about leaving home and serving a mission, and me silently hoping that he wouldn't. When Matt was about 11-years-old, he decided that he needed to serve the Lord, but that he was just going to ask if he could do it in Arizona. I thought this was a great plan!

As time went on, we both grew up. Matthew knew that he needed to serve a mission and I knew that I would have him do nothing less. Two years and three days ago, our family drove to Utah to take the oldest brother to the Mission Training Center. The events of that day will have to be for another post. Suffice it to say, it was a hard day. Hard days would follow, but far more blessings would accompany them.

Tomorrow my baby boy comes home ... in the form of a man. Tonight, none of us will sleep. Banners will be made, new sheets will be placed on his new bed (which was secretly delivered by Grandpa Vince), food will be prepared, and anxiety will be at an all time high. I never thought that anything could be as exhilarating as the birth of a child, but I have been proven wrong. Tomorrow, he will be sent to me for a second time.