Saturday morning thoughts:

As I was exercising this morning at the gym there was a song that kept going through my mind,

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you're two,
Turn around and you're four,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door.
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door.

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Little dirndls and petticoats, where have you gone?
Turn around and you're tiny,
Turn around and you're grown,
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own.
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young wife with babes of your own

As a mother, you are always aware of your children, no matter how young or how old.  Their worries are your worries, their heartaches are your heartaches, their challenges inadvertently become your challenges. 

I thought about the challenges all my children were faced with and are now faced with.  Jeff and Lynda Ann having to face the fact that their parents were divorced and the stigma that goes along with that.  Then having to deal with being uprooted from their home that they grew up in, the neighborhood they loved, the ward they called home.  I could write paragraphs about the challenges and emotional stress they faced and had to deal with. 

I thought about the Tucker, Maren, Spencer, Lyndsy and Derek and what it must have been like to lose their mother at such young, vulnerable ages.  Not being sure how to act, how to grieve or how to deal with this tragedy.  Trying to go on, trying to make sense of what had happened.  Here again, I could write volumes of what they had to face.

I thought about all of the children dealing with new parents, new rules, new siblings, combining seven totally different personalities. 

I thought about my own life and what I’ve been through and the challenges that Neal has had to address. 

The conclusion to all this is that none of us are given a free ride in this life.  I know with a surety that we accepted and were willing to come to this earth and go through whatever trials were in our path.  These are hard times for all of us.  Satan and his hosts are working overtime to bring us down, to pull us away from what we know to be truth. 

I am so thankful and I feel so blessed as I write this, for all of you.  For your love, for your example and for your faithfulness to what you have been taught and know to be true.  I think about the atonement of Jesus Christ and His role in our lives.  We are so blessed to have that knowledge.  That means we can do hard things.  It is to Him that we look to when hard times come – and they do come.  I love the church hymn: “ I believe in Christ, He is my King.  With all my heart, to him I’ll sing.  I believe in Christ, so COME WHAT MAY . . . . .”    The gospel is what keeps me moving and keeps me going and puts life in perspective. 

I know that some of my children are going through some really rough challenges right now.  I would ask that all of you remember each other in your prayers.  Put your brothers and sisters on the prayer rolls of the temple when you go.  Call each other, buoy each other up.  Don’t be quick to judge what you may not fully understand, just be kind and reach out when you can.  We are a forever family and we need to be there for each other always!

I love you all, I pray for each of you daily.  Love, Mom