Celebration

Today we celebrated Sam's first birthday (Yes, we know, it's a few days early--his real birthday is March 9th).

I had been thinking we might do something small...cake at our (semi) weekly after-church restaurant gathering, or maybe just an evening at home together as a family. But we chucked that idea, invited lots of friends to a nearby park, and brought cupcakes and a giant picnic.

I am so glad we did. Sam's birthday came at the perfect time, and has given me an excellent opportunity to take the focus off of myself and the loss we recently experienced and focus instead on the two gifts right in front of us--Caleb and Samuel.

As many of you know, Josiah and I struggled to conceive both our children (for a much earlier post on our struggles with infertility, read here.) I called it infertility, but I'm not really sure that's a fair definition, since we didn't have to wait nearly as long as some couples, nor did we have to undergo any major medical interventions. But it felt long at the time. (We waited 1.5 yrs for Caleb and 1 yr. for Sam)

And so part of why this recent accidental pregnancy was so shocking to us was due in part to our previous difficulties conceiving, not to mention the fact that I was using birth control. It still blows our minds.

But Sam's birthday reminded me of how truly blessed we are. This child (and Caleb too) was prayed for, pleaded for, and finally given to us. For this reason we named him Samuel or "heard by God," after the story of Hannah in the Bible and her prayer to God to conceive a child.

Sam is here, he is healthy, and he is our delight.

We are so thankful for our little boy and the life we are able to celebrate today and this coming week.

Happy Birthday, Samuel. We love you.

Pictures to come soon!