Her Birthday

I have kind of been avoiding this blog during the time surrounding Sophie Kate's birthday.  I refused to be sucked into another downward spiral of how difficult this time of year is for me.  Really and truly it wasn't even that I was making a conscious decision to avoid this space it's just that it hasn't even been on my mind.  Sophie Kate has been healthy for some time and we had a small, just the 6 of us family party planned for her on November 7th.  Y'all know how much she loves animals, so her daddy had arranged for an animal encounter for her at our local zoo. It was going to be perfect...no cake, no ice cream...just some of the things Sophie Kate loves.  

Instead, her party had to be cancelled and I found myself standing over her hospital bed on her birthday (November 3rd)...and it wasn't her hospital bed that is in her room at home, it was the real life kind that is located on the 7th floor Special Care Unit of Children's Hospital.  Sophie Kate was admitted to Children's on November 2nd with aspiration pneumonia. We spent 6 days there including the day she turned 8 years old.

The irony was not lost on me that 8 years ago I stood over her hospital bed which then was an incubator in the NICU. However, we are not the same people we were 8 years ago, her and I.  And even though we found ourselves in very similar circumstances, we know that our situations do not dictate our joy and our hope in the name of Jesus.  I will not lie and say that day was all sunshine and rainbows because it wasn't...she was sick and we had an uphill climb ahead of us, but it's not a mountain that we are unfamiliar with.  This is familiar terrain for us, we have traveled these roads before and as much as I hate that this is our world, we know it and we know how to go about getting on with it.

The beauty of that day was that we were surrounded by so many who were there that same day 8 years ago when we were broken and in need of being pieced back together by our Creator and Healer.  The One who knows our inmost parts knew that we would need these people every single day of this journey and 8 years later they are still here...those things were not lost on me.

We are home now and at the beginning of the "sick season."  This too is a familiar place...being home with her. We feel safe and protected here.  It's a necessary part of our life to be here for these months with her.  We are literally nursing her back to health...it will take time.

We are seeing glimpses off and on of our smiling, bright eyed girl.  We are ready for her to be fully back to us but for now we will keep sitting by her, caring for her, talking to her and praying over her.  Her biggest smile since she has been sick came when she was discharged from the hospital and we were on our way home...

Happy Birthday Beautiful, every one with you is a gift.

James 1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."