Babies grow up!
100% True.
I loved rocking my babies, and wish I could have rocked them more. One of my songs was "Hush, little baby, don't say a word, Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird, and if that mockingbird won't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring..." [This momma never bought birds, diamonds or goats, but I liked the tune and rhyming, I guess.]
Of course, my easy favorite was "Jesus Loves Me." A few lullabies were written, but I lost them in the fire.
Also consumed in the fire were all the pictures I took of those beautiful ordinary days of childhood. I knew it would finish, but I didn't realize how quickly.
It was the best "work" I'll ever do. There aren't words sufficient to relay my love for these babies now grown up.
Love that used to guard and hold close physically now painfully- yet willingly - morphs into setting free to grow and fly high in the direction God has mapped out; the closeness is more like friendship in heart and strength in roots.
Home will always be open to them whether for a stop or a stay anytime on the rest of their journey... because we are family.
People and ministries and jobs and achievements come and go... but these babies are the ones who stay with us... forever. God made it so.