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Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.~ Jeremiah 1:5
She's definitely our Valentine baby, born shortly before the Hallmark date on the calendar so she is always lovingly referred to as our "baby love".
Before the day came when she finally arrived into our arms, fifteen days late, I was not able to avoid the dreaded and almost horrid "drip" induction, but our doctor's (older mother) concern grew as each day continued past my due date.
Deep down, I wasn't really worried. Oh, I was and yet I just wasn't. You see I was often seen during those days escaping under the mantle of Our Lady, hidden there, feeling safe through this late baby delivery attention by our doctor.
Actually, truth be known - I couldn't afford to become filled with worry if it hit me. I needed to persevere and remain calm in all possible ways for I had several great snowballing items (all of equal importance) to fill my head and heart with already at home.
God knew she was the very best perfectly wrapped gift he could have blessed us with during that timing, the perfect gift during the onset of her daddy's huge health fallout in progress. He had been very ill for almost one year and still none of the doctors knew or could find out the reasons "why".
Nine months after her birth, something akin to a living hell literally rocked our world and the journey has continued from then to the present day with regards to wellness and scary health issues from a rare degenerative lung disease no one still has answers for to this day.
As always though - God knew perfectly well what we truly needed to get through it all in the beginning, a perfect distraction of course, that of a brand new wee one to cuddle, another fresh from heaven beauty to love, when all the world seemed wrong at the time.
And all this also during a time when all the world thought we were nuts for having another baby in the first place when all wasn't right with our world. Little did they all know it was as much a surprise to us as it was to them. :)
I still, after all these years have not changed my mind and continue to share the very same message I sounded off at that time towards those who gave us their unsolicited words;
"Oh ye of such little faith!"...
The very sight of our beautiful daughter's face immediately following her birth created instantaneously thankful hearts. Blessed also were we with her sweet disposition.
Even if tears frequently rolled down my (already) stained cheeks with so many surreal life threatening events in our lives to contend with, all of our other cares would momentarily melt away and stand still for a bit while gazing down at her pretty round cherub face.
Somehow we were always able to manage a smile when our hearts were hurting and aching so very badly from the "unknown" wreaking havoc in our lives.
To this day - we still continue to experience the roller coaster traumatic effects lingering around health issues. Some days are okay and maybe even good, some days not so good, but health issues are always ever-present at the helm. My husband claims he never really feels good anymore, still though he finds some days can be good in other ways instead.
We tend to find ourselves often revisiting times of; hoping, praying, waiting, coasting, dreaming, caring, and so many other emotions, sometimes many surging forth all at once.
As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones are joined together in the womb of her that is with child: so thou knowest not the works of God, who is the maker of all.
~ Ecclesiastes 11:5
One more thing; with regards to this little gal - she was definitely a precious "gift" during our deepest times of sorrow. She kept us all grounded, still does to this day. In fact all of our children do.
I am always amazed at women who speak flippantly and say they will wait for another baby because of the poor timing in their lives. If a woman is healthy, then I would offer a rebuttal that there really and truly is no such thing as a perfect time to have a baby!
ALL babies are blessings no one should ever gaze into the face of our Lord and say; "No thank you, not right now, it's simply not a good time for us."
- Trust.
- Seek.
- And ye shall find that "any time is baby time".
And these my friend are ..... just a few of my most humble thoughts for this day.
