One Year Ago Today

A year ago today, we buried our sweet baby boy Daniel. We spent Friday (his first birthday) celebrating his life by taking a mini-vacation to Louisville, where Anna and I attended the temple on Saturday while members of the local FSA chapter provided babysitting.

So much has happened in the past year—much of it good, but all of it tinged by Daniel’s absence. We take great comfort in the teaching of President Joseph Smith, Jr.:

Children … must rise just as they died; we can there hail our lovely infants with the same glory—the same loveliness in the celestial glory” (History of the Church 6:366).

However, we know not whether Daniel’s spirit had yet staked its eternal claim on the tiny body he seems to have inhabited. Thus, we can only wait to see whether he will be returned to us in this life (which is currently our preference, ignorant though it may be).

If he is to be returned to us in mortality, we also wonder how this will happen: will he grow in Anna’s womb, as numerous Priesthood blessings seem to have attested, or will he come to us through another? And either way, our impatient humanity begs the question of “When?”

Regardless of how it all turns out, it suffices to say that even after a year, our beloved baby boy is severely missed. We love you, Daniel, and we cannot wait to see you again. :-*