Welcome Hazel!

Dear family,

What a wonderful day today has been!   I am so tired, the words are swimming on my screen as I try to type them.  I hope the laptop doesn't seip off my lap while I finish typing.  Love to all,

Dad

Thursday, March 4, 2021
9:47 pm

Welcome to wonderful Hazel!  She was born today at 1:25 pm, 6 pounds 12 ounces, 20 inches long.  Today truly felt like a miracle.  Labor felt like it was going slowly all morning.  At 12:15 our nurse let us know she was going to lunch because we were in a lull and things were moving slowly.  Ten minutes later things got hopping.  Contractions went from mild to intense in a matter of minutes.  Fortunately, Julie was able to get an epidural still which greatly helped.  The doctor arrived in plenty of time.  When he was sure the epidural was working he broke the water.  Just a few minutes of pushing later, Hazel was here.  She is perfect, had a very healthy cry, and needed no interventions.  She latched on to nurse within the first hour and again later in the evening.  None of our other kids took to nursing so naturally.  I am overwhelmed with love for this little girl and with gratitude to God for this wonderful miracle for our family.

Another tender experience happened last night.  Andy Hjorth came over to help me give Julie a blessing before today's delivery.  Nathaniel sat with Abbie during the blessing.  When we finished blessing Julie, Nathaniel walked over to me and got my attention.  He put his hand on his head, then tried to climb into the chair Julie had been sitting in.  When I boosted him in, he folded his arms and waited.  So, I blessed him too!  It was so sweet.  I blessed him that he would be good today for Grandma and other who watched him while we were at the hospital.  I blessed him to eat.  I blessed him to sleep.  All of those blessings were realized today.  The blessing for Julie was also nice.  One phrase that I have felt more than once while blessing Julie through ths pregnancy is, "You will be blessed forever."  Our family is ours eternally, and we will be a blessing to each o9ther eternally.

Young Men's on Wednesday felt challenging on many different levels.  Also Wednesday Mark got a new companion, new area, and new responsibility as district leader.  I couldn't be more proud of him.

Tuesday I met in the evening with several people.  They are each dealing with challenging situations in their lives.  I am grateful for ideas that come to me through revelation and hope that I am able to act on them appropriately.

Ministering and Grateful: I am grateful for so many things, many of which are listed above.  More later…