Celebrating...

Six years ago today, God gave me a gift!  He gave me a precious bundle of joy that assured me life would go on after the devastation of losing Addy and then Eden.  I discovered I was pregnant just two months after returning from Sierra Leone with out Eden.  The pregnancy was a welcome shock.  I told John I was pregnant with Ava by settling a fight...we had been discussing who would return to Sierra Leone to pick up Eden when the visa was approved.  I woke up in the middle of the night and took a pregnancy test without John even knowing I suspected I might be pregnant.  When that second line appeared, I went into our bedroom, flipped on the light and told a very groggy husband that he won the fight!  He would be going to Sierra Leone to get Eden because I was pregnant!  Took him a few minutes for that to sink in!

It would be a long few months in so many ways, but the life growing inside of me kept me grounded.  I knew I had to hold my emotions and not let stress get the best of me because it was not good for the life growing inside of me.  And somehow in those moments of crisis for my faith in those months, the kicks and moves of this precious life would convince me that God was real when everything with in me wanted to turn and run the other way from Him.

Ava truly was a gift that promised life would go on after heartbreak like I had never known it!  And she has been a source of joy ever since!

She has taught me so much!  She is my ONE compliant child!  She loves life and doesn't let much bother her.  She is as determined as anyone I have ever met.  Ava has a neurological condition that makes all movements difficult.  But few know it!  I find myself reaching out to catch her when we hit uneven ground or grab her hand when we are stepping off a curb in anticipation of her faltering and possibly falling.  Or like the other day at the park, Noah and Toben climbed on top of the dinosaur to ride it.  I reached down to lift her up knowing the struggle it would be for her to get up there to which she gently pushed my hand away and in a most polite way said, "I will do it myself."

She love bows and bugs!  She wears high heals and plays soccer with her brothers!  She is an amazing little girl and I thank God today for allowing me to be her mother!  I am the luckiest mommy in this world!

Happy birthday, Ava Claire!  I love you with all my being, and I can't wait to see what God does with you!  He has mighty plans for you, you little spit fire!