I have been Learning to Celebrate Life over and over again. God has been working through little lives to change me.
Three years ago was an epic year for my friends. 32 babies were born to them. 32! 31 of my friends had babies (1 set of twins). Beautiful children. One of those babies was Jamie’s Baby Girl.
I began 2013 with my 3rd miscarriage and later that spring I experienced my 4th. I was heart broken. Lance and I began to wonder if we would ever have children. (You can read about this here.)
As my friends began to announce they were having babies, I got overwhelmed with keeping track. So I made a list. The list grew and grew and grew. At first, I was jealous. Then I became angry. But as the list grew, I knew this had to be God. While not all of these babies had to be about changing me, I knew God was using this to change me. I was learning to celebrate life all over again.
As the list grew even more, I began to be happy for my friends, even excited for them. One family had been trying for so long to have a baby. And they had twins. One family, this was their second child. Their first has a heart defect. He is doing well, but it was exciting for them to learn that their second child had no health issues. One family it was their 3rd child and first girl. Granola Girl had a little boy during this epic year. Several families, it was their first baby. One of my friends gained 4 grandchildren in 4 months. And the list just goes on.
A couple babies were born around the time that one of my babies was due. That was a little sad. But by the time I got to the due date of my last baby, I was just so excited that I forgot about it. What a wonderful year that was. It changed me. I now can be happy for people getting what I want and can’t have. This entire experience gave me the understanding to be able to rejoice with those who rejoice and also mourn with those who mourn.
In the middle of all of this, I learned that Dear Friend was pregnant with Little Thing. She had Little Thing in early 2014 and she became a part of our lives. We are grateful that she gets to spend so much time with us. Dear Friend and Little Thing have become family. While we do not and probably will not have children of our own, Little Thing is part of our family. She has been 2 years in our home and we have treated her like our little girl. We have yet to find a term for the relationship. Sometimes we call it co-parenting. And Little Thing will refer to me as Aunt Kerry when she is able to say it. But whatever the relationship is, it is a blessing.
I am thankful for the entire experience even though at times it was very hard.
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