My mother-in-law is  91, and she continues to inspire me with her outlook on life. For her 90^th birthday, we gave her a laptop so she could keep in touch with all the kids, grandkids, and great-grands scattered across the earth. And, she does.

She became terribly ill back in her eighties. We didn’t expect her to pull through, and we were shocked when she started to improve. She not only got well, she got better. Better than she had been  in years. The only scar from that ordeal is her memory. She lost big gaps of family history.  She doesn’t remember the day I married her handsome youngest son. But, she is still glad I did.

This month, Wendell and I welcomed another grandson, J. Paxton.  (Hurray). He is Number Forty for Grandma-Great. Since he lives in Wyoming and she winters in Florida, they met on Facebook. Afterward, she wrote me this beautiful note. I think it captures the power of mother-love, the mercy of God, and the hope we all have for eternal relationships.

“I think he must look like Wendell,” she said. “Of course, I don’t remember Wendell as a baby at all. But I just have this feeling that I’ve seen Paxton before.”

Lovely.