Thoughtful Thursday -- Aunt Bethany

Yesterday my daughter became an aunt.

Well, not really ... she won't be officially an aunt until she marries baby Benjamin's uncle next month ... but, hey, it's close enough.

This is a big deal.  Yes, babies are born every day, and young ladies become aunts.  But not this young lady.

You see, when she was a young teenager, her 17-year-old sister and only sibling, died of cancer.

Five years ago, I held her as she sobbed over the fact that she would never get to be an aunt.  Through my own tears, I tried to explain to her that maybe someday she would get married, and that maybe her husband would have a brother or a sister who would someday have a baby, so that maybe someday she'd still get to be an aunt.

"But no, that wouldn't be the same," she cried.  I had to admit she was probably right.  And over the years, as friends and teammates became aunts, she politely admired their baby nieces and nephews, privately mourning the fact that she would never be an aunt to her sister's children.

Well ... all those maybe somedays have now come to pass.  She's about to marry a young man who has an older brother and a precious wife (who has become like an older sister to Bethany), and yesterday little Benjamin was born.

Bethany and her fiance' drove all the way from Fayetteville to Hot Springs for his arrival.  The pictures say it all.

No, I suppose it's not the same.  But you know what?  It's pretty darn good.  And I can't help but think that Hannah is smiling down on these two young families ... one with a newborn baby, and one with an about-to-be newborn marriage.  And that makes this Mama's heart smile.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4 (ESV)