Oh What a Day!

About three years ago Father God looked at me and wanted to express His love to me and He thought and thought of how He can best show me how much He loves me. He must have considered many different ways to express such love but ultimately He decided only one way would truly express His great love for me. So, He blessed me a second time with what my heart had cried out to him for so long- a child. He blessed me with my Samuel.

A boy who I never planned for and has been turning my world upside down ever since. How great is the Father's love for me! He knew just what I needed in a child. One who is a little loud, a little pushy and a whole lot of lovey! He knew I needed someone just like Sam in my life and I am forever grateful for this child. If I ever question Father God's love for me all I need to do is look at my Sam and know how much He loves me!

Today has been perfectly sweet! I was welcomed by my 2 year old baby coming down the stairs wearing his birthday crown making blowing noises as he ran to the kitchen. He seemed to know that his birthday muffins would be waiting for him with candles- he was right! After breakfast he opened his presents from us and we just enjoyed a lazy morning of watching our kids play with these fun new toys. Tonight we will enjoy homemade pizzas and ice cream sundaes which we will all help with and I will clean up afterwards.I told Rob that for some reason I finally feel like he is here to stay. Rob gave me that look he usually reserves for conversations that start with "If I were to die tomorrow....." I am not sure where I thought Sam was going up until this morning but for some reason I feel like he is finally ours really truly ours. Mine- my baby boy- my son- my gift of love from a loving Father.

Happy Birthday, Samuel Robert, you are a joy, an adventure, an expression of love.

My Girl

Today, well I guess yesterday now, we celebrated my girl's 4th birthday. I can hardly believe she is 4 now. It seems like just yesterday I was planning for her arrival. and now she is no longer a baby but a beautiful, spirited little girl. I can truly say that the happiest time of my life was when she came into our lives. She was the answer to years of prayer and she did not disappoint!

We started the day by bringing her a breakfast of a blueberry muffin and cup of milk to her while she was still in bed. She lit up as her Daddy and I came into the room singing and got her all set up. She listened patiently as I told her the story of her birth and giggled as I talked about her having non stop hiccups while in my tummy. I reminded her that she is an answer to many prayers and that we had to wait so long for her because Father God was making her extra special.



The rest of the day was full of doing all of her special things. We ran from library time to Toys R Us to Chuck E Cheese back home for a special dinner of noodles with white sauce (which I made from scratch and she decided she likes the icky jar stuff better so she ate a PB&J sandwich instead.) followed up with ice cream from the farm down the road. It was a very busy but fun filled day in which all day I was replaying in my head the 30+ hours of labor I was going through 4 years ago. The crazy thing is that I long for that experience again. That going to the hospital and not sure what is going to happen over the next few hours as you work to give birth. That knowing that all this pain is going to lead to the most incredible experience of my life. Even in those hours of pain and worry, which ultimately ended with an emergency C-section that had me under general anaesthesia and baby out in less than 10 minutes, I knew I was doing this all for baby. I welcomed it all because it was all an answer to prayer. Father God had remembered me and blessed me with Malinda Kristina Franklin.



I love that her birthday will always remind me of how I fell to my knees praising God after seeing those life telling two lines on the pee stick! I will always sing His praises and rehearse to my child (even to her eyes rolling at me as she hears it over and over again) the story of her birth and remind her that she is a walking example of God's love and power! This girl has a purpose in life and I am blessed and challenged to be the one to help her get ready for that purpose. It's not always easy and it's a lot of work but just as I knew that the pain of labor was leading up to something beautiful and there was NOTHING that I wouldn't do to get my baby born i know that all this work of raising her is leading up to a beautiful birth of a woman who, to me will always be my apple cheeked chatterbox, but to the world will be a beautiful powerful woman of God's Purpose!

Keep your eye on the prize, Amy, your in for a long ride of labor but in the end it will be a memory you will long for!