Several years ago I fell in love with the Willow Tree figurines that Lifeway carries. I found one that looked like Juliana at about the age she was at the time and one of Holt the same. It just kind of worked out that way. After Mouse was born, Birch got me one of a mother holding an infant. Three months later for Christmas he bought one to symbolize Anna's passing from nine years earlier.
I cried that Christmas morning like it was fresh and it caught me completely offguard, as old pain sometimes will.
This year sees two more Willow Tree figures on my shelf, angels of course. I'm running out of room.
Yesterday afternoon Juliana unexpectedly said to me, "Mama, I took your figures off the shelf and dusted them. I kissed Anna and told her 'Happy Birthday' and that today she is a teenager."
Caught so unprepared, I just grabbed her and held her and wept for just a minute. I rarely cry anymore from this wound thirteen years old. It is a sore that has scabbed many times over. These days there are much fresher wounds to call my own.
The day we mourned Crawford, Birch referred to him and Anna as bookends of our family. In the years in between we were given three amazing gifts.
Dear God, don't let me ever lose sight of the wonderful blessings in the middle.
Beautiful.
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