august 20th

august 20th is a pretty special day for this pretty special couple.

last year, on this very day, our niece, karen, married her sweetheart, morgan;

and today, exactly one year later, the two of them took their precious baby, carter, to the mesa temple - to be sealed for time and eternity.

it was beautiful.

in fact, to me, it was even more beautiful than their actual wedding day.

just for a lot of different reasons.

it was simple.

temple weddings are simple...but they are powerful, and wonderful, and perfect. because everything that God has a part in...is perfect.

the most beautiful part of it all, for me, was watching as they placed carter's tiny hand on top of his parents' at the temple alter.

he didn't even make a peep. he just stared up in reverence and awe at his dad, and then at his mom, and then he played with his mommy's ring, and then with her hair.

it was tender. it really was.

above all, what made it sweet and tender, were the blessings and promises that they were given, of course contingent upon their own faithfulness.

and carter, oh sweet baby carter, he was given the best gift of all - the gift of being sealed to his parents as if he had been born into the new and everlasting covenant.

it caused me to reflect on the day that we had our very own asher sealed to us.

it was one of the most special experiences of my life.

that day my own baby received the same blessings that baby carter received today...

blessings that his older sister, ruby, had already been given at birth - namely the blessing of being born into the covenant.

the new and everlasting covenant.

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

august 20th, like i mentioned earlier, is a very special day...for many people.

but it holds an extra special place in my heart, because it's the day that my sweet asher made his entrance into this world.

it's the day, three years ago, that i stood in a delivery room, and watched with teary eyes - the struggle his birth mother endured to get him here (he was a big baby - 10lb 10oz, and she was a very small girl).

it was the day i had anticipated for 9 months, but it was also a day that would break my heart, as i watched a young mother hand her precious newborn son, over to another mother.

i felt honored being the recipient of such a selfless gift,

but in truth, it was hard to celebrate my gain, when i knew that someone else was suffering such a loss.

a tremendous loss.

i still love and revere asher's birth mother for what she did.

i always will.

we don't keep in touch really.

i'm not even sure if she still reads my blog...but lindsay, if you happen to be reading this, please know that i feel forever indebted to you for the selfless sacrifice that you made for your baby.

for us.

he has blessed and enriched our lives more than you'll ever know.

my life, my world, my family, my eternity, has changed forever because of our precious asher. so thank you.

from the bottom of my heart.

i thank you.

ash has known for some time now that his birthday would be coming up.

he's been asking about it ever since ruby's birthday (i still need to post about that) - which was june 4th.

almost daily we hear his question, when's my birfday guuump (comin' up)?

we always tell him, august 20th, buddy, you still have to wait a couple more months, or a couple more weeks...

we found out not long ago about karen and morgan's sealing, and knew that once again, we'd have to postpone asher's big celebration.

it made us a little sad.

especially because of how he had been looking forward to "august 20th" - with such excitement and anticipation.

we figured that he's still young enough to be fooled.

he knows his birthday is august 20th, but he doesn't have a clue that august 20th...is today.

we figured we'd celebrate it next weekend, and he'd never know the difference.

it was hard not being able to tell him happy birthday today.

instead we looked for countless opportunities to tell him...without actually "telling him".

he and i woke up really early and played in the playroom for 4 hours.

john made pancakes for breakfast...usually we have cold cereal.

we took him to pick out his very own backpack for school, and then grabbed dilly bars from dairy queen and ate them at home.

i made sure to give him extra kisses, and longer hugs, and multiple "i love you's" throughout the day.

i cried as i watched him dance across the family room floor tonight before dinner.

i just couldn't believe how much he's grown up, and how fast these three years have flown by.

he can be a handful, yes.

he's active, and full of energy, and sometime knows the very buttons to push that will send me through the roof...

but it makes me sad thinking about how much i talk about, write about, and even think about those things.

it's way more often than i should.

because truth is, he's the sweetest, happiest, funniest, most tender-hearted, and spirited little three year old i know...

and that is something worthy to blog about, and talk about, and think about...

and shout from the rooftops (when he sometimes sends me through them. ha).

happy august 20th, my little man.

we'll celebrate BIG TIME next week (on august 20th), sound good?