Mother's Day Miracle 2009

The word miracle is sometimes used pretty flippantly, I think, and yet there is such a thing as an "everyday" miracle. What happened yesterday is becoming more and more of an everyday miracle to us. Our Callie was given the name Myrikle - yes that is how it was spelled by her birth mother. We thought the name would be a burden, the spelling alone for a kid with developmental delays, and just a bit pretentious. But as the years have passed we realize our Callie's original name may very well have been divinely given to her and a glimpse into what we would experience as time has moved on.

Yesterday morning my beloved husband let me sleep in, a rare experience around here for sure. As he was rushing around to get the various breakfast orders filled he noticed Callie eyeballing Jacob's new art kit enviously. He coaxed Jacob to share some paper with her and he graciously did - wait that may be the second miracle of the day. Anyway, he went out into the kitchen and when he returned Callie proudly showed him a mother's day card - Happy Mother's Day Love Callie Reeves and on the back it says - to mom. Mark couldn't wait for me to receive it, he just had to tell me.

"Did you ever think you'd see the day?" he asked. No we sure never did. Our beautiful girl was pretty damaged merchandise when we got her. No eye contact, couldn't stand to be held - pretty much a RAD (reactive attachment disorder) kid from the get-go. She wasn't walking, talking, she didn't even make a sound as she'd learned that crying didn't get you any attention anyway, so why bother. She had what is called a "flat affect" which basically means no expression.

Today she danced in front of our church, as she does every week, singing praise songs to the Lord and pretending to hold a microphone singing along with the worship team. It just never ceases to amaze me to see this joyous child jubilantly dancing. Sometimes we wonder if it annoys other people, as she usually at least once bolts and trys to get up on the stage. As of now, I can't imagine a time every stifling her spirit. She nearly had it snuffed out her first 2 1/2 years. For whatever purpose, God didn't allow that to happen. Because of that, I believe,  she most certainly is a divine miracle, no everyday miracle either,  no matter how you spell it.

Little Man is 6!

Today is Jacob's BD - 6 yrs. old. Yesterday was a day off of school. He really wanted to get his presents, which I had already purchased and we thought - well, why not - let's have a birthday today. So, we made a cake, wrapped the presents and grilled some burgers and it was all good. He was happy and we had a stress free early BD. We generally keep BD's low key around here anyway, so it was just fine. As we were singing happy birthday Mark said - so how many BD's do you think we've celebrated around here. Well, let's calculate - to the best of our ability we gather it's around 300! Good grief! I think I need a nap just thinking about it.

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Baby Kaia is here!

We are now proud grandparents of a baby girl. Kaia Lee was born Friday May 1 at about 5PM - 8 lbs. 9 oz. She gave her mommy a bad time coming out which ended in a c-section, but she is healthy and so is mommy, so all is well. We're very proud of how mommy Melissa has handled her pregnancy and the beginnings of motherhood. We haven't been very close these past few years, but Kaia's arrival is bringing healing to our relationship and that is awesome. Our God is a great God and He can use unexpected little miracles to mend us and draw us closer to Him and to each other and for that we are very grateful.

Melissa's boyfriend, Curtis, has done a great job taking good care of Melissa and loving her through her pregnancy and delivery and is a very proud papa for which we are very grateful as well. She will have to take extra time off and he will have this week to spend with his girls as they learn to be a family together.

Watching Melissa nurse the baby and just thinking about and watching her pregnancy has brought about lots of questions about breasts and birth moms and such from Ella and Jacob, which is good. Ella thought they bad to poke holes in Melissa's breasts in order for the milk to get out and both needed clarification on who's tummies they grew in etc. I love when the questions come naturally and so far my answers have satisfied their curiosities - thankfully.