God's Most Precious Gifts!

Life here in the midwest has been busy, busy, busy! We have been celebrating birthdays and birth-days! Our newest member of the family and 6th grandchild arrived September 26th. Nya Joelle joins the other 4 girls and Gray, but her big sister, Geneviève, makes sure the rest of the cousins know exactly who she belongs to!

I have been quietly pondering all the sacred blessings that accompany a newborn baby. To see their tiny fingernails and perfectly formed lips, to hear their hushed squeaks and sighs, to feel their velvety soft cheeks and smell that brand-new powdery baby smell... there's nothing like it!

And what a joy to take care of my daughter and her family while she recovered from the hard work of bringing this littlest bundle of love into the world. I loved every minute of being "domestic help" again in a busy household. I miss those days. Of all the laundry and cleaning and preparing meals, the most fun was, of course, being caretaker for Genna. We made it through countless readings of A Fish Out of Water and Corduroy and watched Flipper and Madeliene too many times to number. We also talked in the car, played at the park, officially welcomed autumn at the Pumpkin Patch, sang songs, packed lunches for pre-school, said prayers, handled her 3 yr. old anxieties the best we could, and layed silently together until those black eyelashes became too heavy to keep her awake.

A new baby is a wonderful thing. I watch her sleep so peacefully with an occasional accidental smile. I watch my own baby girl, now grown, mother her new daughter so tenderly with all the intentions of being the perfect Mom. I watch her family interact together with love and laughter. I marvel with humble gratitude for God's magical gift of life. All of His creativity and sovereignty and love for us rolled up into one pink flannel receiving blanket!

Thank you, God, for Nya. May she grow to know your great love for her personally, and may she respond with a grateful heart that lives for you.