About Kids!!

Well, our kids did it! They grew up and then they moved out on their own! But we all want our children to take wing and fly, as long as it isn't too far or for too long. Couldn't there just be a rule that says they must stay within a 10 mile radius?

We have 6 children and 11 grandchildren and now another beautiful baby on the way. We are very excited, but Shannon's new little one will be born in Japan! I hope to be able to go to Japan when the time comes, but a little visit is never the same as living close and being able to share Family Home Evenings, Sunday dinners, holidays, and caring for grandchildren while parents are out. Don't get me wrong, I truly do enjoy and appreciate those visits but the "good-bye's" are very hard to do and the "hello's" are too far apart.

Celeste doesn't live very far away, only a 2 1/2 hr. drive, but we still don't get to spend enough time with her and her family. Then there's Dawn and Mark and Sam, who live in Utah. I love Utah, but once again, it's not conducive to having a day-to-day relationship.

Our daughter, Suzanne, has moved here with her children while Jared is deployed to Iraq for a year. I wish he didn't have to be separated from them but then I'd want him to be here, too, but without this deployment they'd all still be on Oahu; all the way across the ocean and might as well be a million miles away! And now, I am so thankful to be able to have a real, tangible place in their lives on a daily basis. It means the world to grandparents everywhere to be able to spend time almost whenever they want, with their children and grandchildren.

I suppose that children should be able to have a life of their own, and that they deserve the opportunity to "do their own thing", but please, do it a bit closer!