The Zucchini Season of Blessings

Life is so sweet right now, ridiculously busy but sweet nonetheless.  Mike and I are very much in a harvest season.  We have an exquisitely cute new granddaughter, a missionary son in the MTC, and an over-four-months-into-her-service missionary daughter.  Plus, our nest is not empty yet; we still have Adam to keep us company, much to his frequent loneliness and dismay.  We feel so blessed that I mentioned to a good friend the other day that I felt like the blessings were coming as fast as summertime zucchini.  She replied, "Yeah, but you don't want to give away these blessings like you try to leave zucchini in other people's cars at church."  I concur.

Introducing:  Emily Rachel Miller

Emily Rachel Miller was born on May 4, 2012 at 10:51 a.m.  For those of you who know us well, you may recognize this birthdate.  For her 22nd birthday, Rachel got "the best birthday present ever"--a new niece.  How we would have loved to have Rachel here when her little niece made her appearance, but it's kind of cool that Emily was born while Sister Young was on her mission.

Karen's labor went so fast that I didn't make it to Brigham City until a few hours after Emily arrived (even with breaking a few traffic laws along the way), but I was happy to be there to watch Karen and Andrew bond with their new daughter.  Karen was instantly and absolutely in love!

I'll have to admit that I fell for my new granddaughter at first sight as well.  Who can resist a face like this?





I got to spend an awesome eleven days helping the new family get settled, and I was in absolute heaven.  Sometimes Emily would melt my heart and snuggle right in for a nap next to Nana's heart.  Could there be any greater feeling?

Uncle Matt Heads to the MTC

Matt entered the MTC on May 9th, Karen's due date, but since Emily arrived early, Matt got to meet his new little niece.  He claimed that it wouldn't have been a big deal if he hadn't made her acquaintance, but he was pretty smitten by this little baby.

I took a break from grandmothering to help drop Matt off at the MTC.  As much as I hated seeing him go, I was so grateful that he is worthy and willing to serve.  I believe Adam had the hardest time with the departure.  Matt had about three weeks off between the end of his semester and his report date, and the two of them had so much fun together.  It's always funny to me how much better friends my kids are after one of the sibling lives on their own for a bit.  They certainly weren't too sad to goof around, however.  That would never happen.

Mike did seem a little more choked up to see his son leave.

Elder Young is scheduled to leave for Honduras on July 9th.  We'll see if the whole visa thing works out.  We're not holding our collective breath. . .

Our Southern Belle

Rachel has been gone for over four months now, not that I'm counting or anything.  It has been a complete joy to receive her weekly e-mails and very frequent snail mail letters from Athens, Georgia. She has been so good to keep in touch.  She even sends pictures with almost every letter, and we smile when we see where she poses.  She still has her delightful sense of humor.



As a Boise State football fan, the above picture is hard for me to look at, but I have to remember that she is on the Lord's errands.  She has many souls to save. . . obviously.  She claims that she is still a Bronco fan.  We shall see.

Oh, how I love this girl!  Her quirky sense of humor just makes me giggle.  We got to Skype with her for Mother's Day, and even though she mostly just wanted to look at baby Emily, she kept us thoroughly entertained while staring at the little one.  She is still the same wonderful Rachel, just blessed with that missionary glow and very apparent testimony.  I miss her like crazy but wouldn't have her anywhere else.

Life is good right now, and I am grateful for all of these zucchini blessings.  I recognize that there are many different seasons of life, and I'm overwhelmingly thankful that all of the planting and nourishing we did seems to be paying off.  It's certainly more fun to harvest than it is to weed.  My kids would most certainly concur.