Blessings and Mercy

Monco the monkey arrived home safely yesterday. Brian unfolded his little body from the light bulb box they had mailed him in and was ecstatic. He now joins Daddy-O on the bed and will rest until his next adventure. He did miss some action though. High on the ceiling of our front entrance there is a fan and light fixture. Brian was heard chuckling delightedly on Thursday past, he had taken kangaroo baby "joey" and was launching him into the spinning fan and watching him fly out the other side. This did keep the five year old entertained for a good half an hour. I mentioned to Brian that it might be rather a cruel game, he laughed and informed me that "Joey wasn't real and anyhow, Joey's parents, Mrs. Kanga and Huggsie Bear, had given him permission to do it!"

Speaking of parental permission, Owen (17), our oldest son, is leaving home next month. He is going out west to live with his Godfather and finish his high school and experience his uncle's new business. Business is what he thinks he may choose as a career. He has been home schooled to date but when this opportunity arrived we thought it might be a great experience for him, a touch of reality, since we as parents have entered the "realm of not-knowing anything." He is a good person and is growing into a fine young man, and I use "good" as defined as morally formed and right-acting. He is prayerful, close to God and trying to stand up and be "a man." He is restless at home.... hence the Godfather's impeccable timing . Knowing all this with my head and seeing the benefits, my heart still feels rather torn. We will miss him, his siblings will miss him.... the family dynamics are changing and as parents, Guy and I will start having to slowly let go of the "dream."

The "dream," being growing up, getting married and having a family, realizing that this all belongs to God, that we rely on Him for everything and that the sooner we understand that and abandon ourselves to His loving will the easier it will be. Owen is even more than usual "belonging" to God. He was an identical twin. We lost his brother, Gabriel, at 28 weeks of pregnancy and Owen was born in critical condition weighing 2lbs and fitting in the palm of our hands. With a lot of prayer and God's mercy, he survived and has grown up without any significant problems. That, I believe, is a huge underlying theme of my life, trusting in the good God, because all is due to His divine mercy. He has always been so good to us, we owe Him everything. Thank you, Lord.