Contentment

Hunter called the other night just to chat.  I love that my son will call just to talk and share his life.  He is having a harder year this year in school - harder classes, hard job, and I think a little loneliness as he watches his friends pair off, but because of his job he can't date anyone he knows and he is too overwhelmed right now to look for someone somewhere else.  He is also feeling the pressure of impending adulthood.  If he does what he really wants to do with his life, he will need at least a master's degree and probably a doctorate.  In the meantime, he will be faced funding an education without a steady income and no more scholarships.  The other option is to continue his undergraduate work for a fifth year and obtain a teaching certificate so that he could have an income, but it would prolong his graduate work and he would have no scholarship for the fifth year.  He has always thought he would enjoy teaching and he has a way of relating to others that allows him to explain concepts in terms that they understand, but his real passion is research.  We spent quite a bit of time talking pros and cons of the two options.  In the end, I asked him to consider how his education plan would fit in with his life plan.  I felt from the conversation that that is the struggle he is having.  Sometimes we all focus on the moment or the microscopic and miss the rest.

Monday mornings are met with me running to the computer to read my weekly email from Wil.  That is if I haven't waited up till after midnight on Sunday to read it then.  I am amazed at how much my son has grown. It wasn't so long ago that I had great concerns about the life choices he was making.  Rick and I shed lots of tears and offered many prayers on his behalf.  I am so grateful he finally realized that he was heading down a treacherous road.  I look at him now and the experiences he is having and the impact for good that he has had on so many people and I am truly humbled that we have been able to witness such a mighty change of heart.

Jon is thriving in college this year.  I wonder if being out of the shadow of his older brothers has finally let him blossom (for lack of a better term).  It is such a joy to listen to him as he talks about his day at school.  He finds so much joy in everyday life that it is hard not to catch his excitement.  Whether he is watching a movie with friends, attending a sporting event, working with the new scouts, playing his guitar or reading a book; he will always find something to catch his interest that he wants to share.  I laughed the other night as he was going over to a friend's house to watch a movie.  It was the night of the big University of Utah/BYU rival game.  All day, Jon had been wearing his U of U t-shirt, but as he was leaving I noticed he had changed.  When I made a joke about him not wanting to be stinky, he said the he had changed since he felt it would not be a good choice to wear red when heading into BYU fan territory.  Such a wise boy!

Lela continues to amaze me. She is so much older than her 11 years.  I love the time we get to spend together one-on-one at the end of her school day.  She wants to solve her own problems, but knows that we are there to help her.  She loves sports.  She has started playing tennis and always comes home from lessons with a funny story.  The other day, while serving the ball, the wind blew it back and into her eye.  She thought that was the funniest thing ever and it was the first thing she had to tell us.  Now she is wondering how the tennis meet schedule in high school will overlap with the swim meet schedule so that she can hopefully participate with both.  She always has a plan - whether with sports, her music, church activities or her next adventure.  It is fun to listen to her as she discovers life and charts her course.

Emily too is expanding her wings.  She came home and let us know that she wanted to be a part of the student council at the elementary school.  She designed a poster and had Rick help her put it together, then she wrote her speech and delivered it to the selection committee.  She is so excited to serve on the yearbook committee.  I still see her struggling with the idea that she is not such a little girl anymore.  Some days, she still wants to be held and cuddled and have all the oowies kissed away.  But then there are the days like the student council experience where I begin to glimpse the young woman she is becoming.  She is finding her own path separate from her sister that includes dance and art and community involvement.

Twice this week, individuals have expressed to me how much they appreciate my children.  I am grateful to know that they are having a positive impact on the world in which they live.  Being a parent has been at times harder than Rick and I ever imagined, yet it has also brought us more joy than we ever could have found otherwise.  While we have tried to raise them with a sense of right and wrong and responsibility, each one has been different.  Each child has brought us unique challenges and experiences.  None have chosen to walk the same path, but we remain united in our faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our testimony that families are forever.  Now is a time when our lives are filled with joy and as I listen to my children, I find myself feeling oh so content.