Girls

 

I have 4 amazing daughters.  And I love them dearly.  There are lots of fun things about having all girls.  Sweetheart and Sunshine are the same size.  Angel and Happy are the same size.  That makes clothes shopping easy.  And they do share clothes.  Mostly that's a good thing.  I got a compliment about the older two this morning.  Sweetheart's seminary teacher commented how impressed he was with them that they got along so well.  I told that him that they were trained that way.  Whenever they haven't gotten along, I've always told them that their sister is the best friend Heavenly Father picked out for them, so they needed to get along with her first.  I do have good girls and for the most part, they have been able to resolve their disagreements without major difficulty... for the most part.  :) 

 

The most aggravating thing to me about having all girls is that every night is a sleepover.  Really.  I laugh to myself when I hear others complain about how they don't like sleepovers because of all the messing around and giggling that goes on.  That's my life.  Every night.  Sweetheart and Sunshine have their own rooms right now, so once I get them in their rooms, it's fine.  That, coupled with getting up for seminary at 5:00 a.m. takes care of too much messing around with each other.  Angel and Happy on the other hand, are a whole different story.  They have a bunkbed right now, but they prefer to sleep in the same bed.  The same twin bed.  You might be thinking right now that I'm the mom and that I should insist that they sleep in their own beds, to prevent the sleepover giggling.  Well, that actually makes it worse.  They both hang over the edges of their beds to talk to each other.  When they're in the same bed, they talk quietly right next to each other and one quickly falls asleep, usually Happy.

 

I don't feel like I'm missing out on much of anything not having boys.  The-crazy-break-all-your-stuff is covered by a couple of my daughters who shall remain nameless.  How can they break so much of what they touch???  One day I was sitting behind a mom and her 11-year-old son in sacrament meeting.  The boy leaned over and snuggled against his mom during the meeting.  My girls have done that plenty of times too.  But that one day, I felt like I was missing out on something - having a boy - not my husband - crazy about me.  But then I thought of my nephew and the leg hug and I was okay.  Not missing out too bad. 

 

As I've watched various missionaries go out, I've thought that I might not have that experience.  But as my girls have gotten older, I think at least one of them might go.  So, that's okay too, for now.

 

There is one thing I feel like I'm missing out on though.  And I didn't realize it until the next best thing happened.  When I first met Elder Tippetts, we made the connection that I went to school with his dad.  He looked so much like his dad, it was kinda wierd actually.  They were here quite awhile and came over for dinner every couple of weeks.  We grew to really love them.  As Mother's Day approached, they asked if they could come to our house to call their moms.  I said yes, not really thinking much about it.  Elder Tippetts skyped his family and Elder Stoddard called his mom, both talking in the same room.  As they talked, they very quickly transitioned from missionaries to sons.  It was so touching to see these sons talk to their mothers.  These boys were loved so much by people in two places.  This was the mission that their mothers had dreamed of them serving for their whole lives.  Here they were, in my house, doing it!  I guess I don't really even know how to explain it.  But I knew that was an experience I would never have.  And I got really, really sad about it.  So, I took a picture.  This is my experience of having a son loving his mom on Mother's Day.  It was really, really cool.  Thanks, Elders, for giving me that experience.  It was a tender mercy that I didn't know I needed.

 

How has the Lord blessed you when life didn't give you ALL the options?