Eternity

Today has been a struggle. My emotions have been quite near, or on, the surface all day. Tears have surfaced numerous times throughout the day and I have been quite near the end of my rope. Many of my pleadings with Kamden to be a good boy have started and ended in tears for one or both of us. He is a sweet child but quite the handful of strong willed energy, that precious boy of mine. 

I heard sad news this morning that dear Bishop Haycock from Woodburn had passed yesterday. He was our bishop for the year that we were in Woodburn. There was a farming accident and he was not to survive it. I felt a pang of sadness as I heard the news and it has stayed with me all day. You see, we only lived in Oregon for a year. We truly did enjoy our time there and I often find  myself missing it, most of all the people. There are some truly great people in that town of Woodburn and Bishop Haycock was one of those. Although, we only had the privilege of knowing him and his good family for a year we have always thought highly of them. There is quite a legacy of the Haycock and Leder families in Woodburn.

You see, Bishop Haycock shared some very kind, wise advice with me once as my bishop. It is not advice I would feel appropriate to share, however, it has helped me through heartache and saved me from heartache, both. I feel that as though I knew him little compared to many people yet I feel that I would know that he was a kind, wise man following the path of our Savior Jesus Christ.

I will always remember another time that after we had moved away from Oregon and here to Maryland his dear daughter, Stephanie, being the kind one she is, made, packaged, and paid to send a lovely car seat blanket for the little guy that nobody there had met as we left around my sixth month of pregnancy. (I also was blessed by a baby shower to celebrate my little guy before we left by the many other great ward members we met in Woodburn. There are a great deal of good families there). It has been one time that I have truly been touched by something so very unexpected. I would not expect that anyone would need or should bother to send something after we had already left. Not only have I always thought very highly of Stephanie and hoped to model a family life after their young family from what I have seen of it, but I believe it speaks volumes of her parents and the way I am sure they raised their children as well. 

I am sure this post won't be seen by any of the dear family affected by this tragedy as we have not kept in contact with them since we have left but I did feel the need to express a sadness in my heart for this event in my own way and I am most often better at expressing these things through the written word. I very much needed to express my thoughts after such a day that me and my dear little ones have had. 

As I have rocked my, almost 5 month old, little girl to sleep numerous times already tonight I do feel grateful for the sweet meaning of an eternal family. That bond of eternity cannot be broken, even in our very fragile state during this earth life. It lasts forever. We will not see all the truly sweet blessings of eternity now but it will come and when it does we will see that it may well have only grown sweeter with time and experience. Saying goodbye is necessary for now, yet there will come a day when such goodbyes are not needed, and in that day I know we will rejoice for that sweet meaning of eternity has come to it's full fruition.