The Best Medicine

Libby is virtually through the delayed intensification phase. We’re getting her counts checked weekly. We have to be careful about infections. And we have to make sure she doesn’t need a transfusion. And we’re waiting for her counts to recover. Then, we’ll start the interim maintenance phase, most likely, the end of this month. In the meantime, she continues to prove the old adage, laughter is the best medicine, is true. This little one loves to laugh. And she loves to make others laugh. She keeps her sister in stitches. She can get a complete stranger to laugh in under a minute. She deflects her therapists from their work (and hers) with her antics. And Hib and I completely get it. It’s why we like to distract ourselves from the stresses of our days by watching too much TV at night. Preferably sitcoms. Not totally healthy, I know. But laughter works. And it’s a go-to remedy in our family. We eventually deal with the happenings of our days. But sometimes there’s nothing like a good laugh.  And this little ham has certainly figured that out.  Thank you for your continued prayers!

Miss Potato Head

Happy Birthday, Annie!

We had a beautiful weekend. Annie turned one. We wanted to have an intimate celebration, just our family, at our home. And we decided to have her dedication ceremony at the same time.  Even better, we were lucky enough to have her cousin dedicated with her. It was lovely. Exactly how I imagined it would be. How could it not be? It was all about Him. Thanking Him for our little angels. Assuring Him we cannot do any of this without Him. Praying for His guidance in every way along the way.

Our lifelong adored friend and pastor performed the ceremony. He’s the best. As are our dear family and friends we love so much. I’ve said it before, and whoever originally coined this phrase was so right, it takes a dang village. Thank you all so much for loving us, and helping us nurture these precious babies.

I was asked to share some thoughts about dedicating little Annie, and I shared a few on Saturday. Here are some more...

A year ago, I was terrified. Pretending I had surrendered my plans to His, I was showed up.  I’m still learning to trust. Not only was I scared of who our new baby would be. But what was this life going to be like for her? She would have a family who, by the world’s standards, is unconventional. Her sister has special needs. How would all of this affect her? Shape her? What would it do to her faith?

I don’t have answers to these questions. And sometimes I still wrestle with them. But I’m learning this. God created Annie perfectly. He created her for His purpose. She was created perfectly for our family. We’re just here to love her. Guide her. Support her. Teach her. Remind her. She is His. And He has big plans for her.

She will, hopefully, experience a lot of happiness, love, and laughter. She will also experience pain, hardships, and unfulfilled dreams. And strangely, I don’t hope anymore for our children to have pain free, easy, lives. Of course, I want this for them. But I know what their Father has in store is better. I know it’s the hard things He’ll be able to use to shape their hearts. To be more loving. To be more like Him. 

This world will try to tell Annie what’s important. What she should do. Who she should be. As her parents, we’ll try to teach her otherwise. We’ll try to teach her to lean into the One who created her. And take her cues from Him. Her Father, who loves her more than anyone. The only One who will ever fulfill her. We pray she learns early to trust Him. And if she can grasp this-that she is significant, she is worthy, and she is so utterly and completely loved, because she is His. We know she’ll be just fine.  

Happy Birthday, sweet Annie! We love you so much.

Happy New Year!

 

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to post, but I guess I should believe it this time of year! I hope everyone had amazing holidays. Our Christmas couldn’t have been better. I wish I had taken more pictures. It’s so hard to get pictures with two little ones. Our girls are still too young to understand Christmas. Nevertheless, they were super excited about whatever the heck was going on! Libby, especially, quickly picked up on the fact that we were getting to see lots more of our family and friends. Every time we told her where we were headed, she would break into a huge grin. She danced all Christmas.

Hib and I put together the girls’ little kitchen Christmas Eve. Well, he put it together while I drank a glass of wine. We watched Christmas Vacation like we do every year. We filled the girls’ stockings and finished wrapping presents. 

The week between Christmas and New Years was relaxing. We loved it. We slept in. Watched movies. Went out for lunches. Went shopping. Met friends for dinners.

Libby had treatment on New Year’s Eve, and she did beautifully! This is a brutal phase of chemo, but so far, you would never know it. Praise God! We’re in the last few weeks of this phase. Her next treatment is this Tuesday. The doctors expect her counts to really drop, and we continue to pray it’s not too hard on her. And that she stays well.

Unfortunately, Annie did get sick. She started running a fever New Year’s Eve.  We put the girls down at 6:30 that night.  We ordered take-out from one of our favorite burger joints. And we rang in the New Year, just the two of us, eating delicious cheeseburgers while catching up on episodes of Homeland. It was pretty fantastic. AND, it’s Annie’s 1^st birthday! The remainder of last week was spent getting her well, and prepping for her birthday and dedication (post coming soon…). 

2012 was one for the books!  So many blessings. So much love. So much joy. So much surrendering. Bring on 2013! Happy, happy New Year!