One Year

It was without a doubt the most difficult 12 months of our marriage.

3 pregnancies. 3 miscarriages.

We fought against the temptation to let it define us, but at times it certainly did. We prayed, we yelled, we questioned, we cried. We were ready to give up or at least take a break from trying.

And then it happened. We were pregnant again.

To be honest, there was little joy when we got the news. We had been conditioned by then to keep our hopes low. We worried that we would lose this one too. We worried about how we would handle another disappointment. We worried that all our worrying was bad for the baby. We prayed until we had no more words and then we let our 4 year old daughter Rainey pray for us. Surely God would pay special attention to her sweet prayers.

Time moved slowly, but we made it through the first trimester and began to see a glimmer of hope. Then we made it to 26 weeks and we allowed ourselves to get a little excited.

And finally, on January 18, 2006 Emily Rose Bailey arrived.

Now, we can't believe it's already been a year since that blessed day. The past 12 months have been as joyful and quick as those 12 months mentioned above were sorrowful and slow.

Emily took her first steps yesterday. She is working on expanding her vocabulary. She blows kisses, gives hugs and has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. She loves her mom and adores her big sister. She has survived her first year of crawling around with Ikey the Super Weenie Dog and diving head first into the coffee table (nice black eye).

I remember when my niece Jordan was in an accident with her boyfriend. My brother called to say that he wanted us to know that they were okay. He asked us to pray and thank God that they were not badly injured. He called the same people he would have called to pray if they had been injured. That really moved me.

So today I ask all of you who so diligently prayed for us when we were going through our worst 12 months to lift a prayer of thanksgiving for Emily Rose. She is happy and healthy and an indescribable blessing to our lives.

Thank You God! Happy Birthday Em! Daddy loves you!