• Nov. 9, 2009
ahhhh, hello old friend

It's so nice to see my blog still sitting here waiting for me like a faithful dog.  I've been away so long.  And here you are.  Just as I left you.  I read my old entries and was overwhelmed with emotion.  Funny, I remember writing and living those days. 

Oh how life has changed since then.

We found a house in the country and moved.  It's still one of the saddest things  I've ever done.  I just can't believe how attached I was to our old house.  I loved it.  I loved the land and the setting and just everything.  I loved how our family grew there.  It was just full of such good memories. 

But, it's still just a house (as the movie UP reminds me).  And, we've expanded our family at our new home as well.  This one was a surprise.  Last Christmas eve while celebrating with our family, I was pulled to the side and told that my just turned 16 year old cousin was pregnant and due in February.  I had just spent hours with her and didn't even know.  And I'm one who can feel the baby vibe pretty quickly!  It was a shocker!  She had just told her mom and step-dad and her dad and step-mom the previous week.  She had a very extensive doctor's visit and everything had checked out well (Praise God!!) and she was due in February with a baby boy.  We didn't discuss anything more than that with it being Christmas eve.

I told my husband about the baby when we had our girls snuggled in bed for the night and were getting ready to try to close our eyes for awhile too.  I told him that I was going to pray about it and wanted him to do the same.  The next day we agreed we would help out my cousin in any way including adopting the baby boy. 

We talked to her a few days after Christmas and told her we were here to help in any way.  I offered to homeschool her and help her with the baby.  We offered to do a "shared parenting" style to help her get through school and we offered to adopt the baby and raise him as our son in an open adoption where he would know her as his birthmother. 

She had always planned on adoption.  And this is what she chose.  She said she didn't want to have to wonder where the baby was.  She didn't want to have to wonder if he was living in an unhappy home like her mom and stepdad or a happy home like her dad and stepmom. 

And in February, our son was born!!  We were there for his birth.  I coached during labor, cut his cord, and he was handed to me.  It was the most emotional birth experience I have had.  Oh the girls' births were amazing.  But this was different.  Maybe because I *knew* all that she had just felt and to experience it without the pain was that much more intense...I don't know.  But, it was amazing!  I stayed in the hospital with my cousin and my new baby and we were all discharged the following day.

My little man is 9 months old now.  He's crawling, had two teeth, and is starting to say words.  Yep, just like his sisters he is going to be an EARLY talker. He's the love of our life.  He has 4 big sisters wrapped around his finger.  The two oldest sisters are in public school and can't wait to hold him the second they get home in the afternoon.  The other 2 sisters are homeschooled and he loves having an audience all day with them.

God has blessed us!  I may have experienced a loss of the house I loved but oh, what I have gained after that loss too!!  It really takes that loss away.  I don't dwell on it like I did for awhile. 

HE GIVES AND TAKES AWAY!!!

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