Week 14.

I turned 34 this week. As I lay in the early morning light on my birthday I gave thanks for the gift my life has been almost since the start, for the chance I've had to experience earth life, to know my husband and love my children. My life has been saved so many times by the matchless power of my Heavenly Father and I am so thankful for his protection and grace. I was particularly touched this weekend as Elder Wickman spoke at General Conference about the fragile nature of life, that only one heartbeat, one single breath separates this life and the next. My miracles are many. I am a childhood cancer survivor. Between my third and fourth babies I had an ectopic pregnancy. When the doctor talked to me about it later he just shook his head and remarked that I had only a few hours left before it burst and certainly wouldn't have made it back to the hospital "in time." And then again when I delivered Ethan into the world, there was very little separating me from the world beyond. My doctor later remarked that he hadn't been able to sleep for two days afterwards, that in his thirty years of practice he had never seen someone come so close to disaster. I am humbly grateful for the gift of life, the many times it has been extended, and for a God who preserves me from day to day, lends me breath, and supports me from one moment to another.