Carol of Summer

The month was August.

 I "thought" I was having contractions.

 Turns out,

 I was having a few "mild" ones 

that weren't really doing anything. 

I was ten days past my due date and feeling very irritated. 

Thanks to a woman who seemed to know how to have a baby on her own

 (her water broke), 

they kept me in the hospital over night

 and induced my labor with PIT the 

next morning.  

All night long, 

my dear hubby sat next to me in the new birthing room of the hospital

 (at least I got that ), 

which was much better than

 the "old" labor and delivery switcheroo 

I had to endure two years previously. 

I watched re-runs of "I Love Lucy" all night

 while my husband snored in the old fashioned wooden rocker next to me. 

I heard some yelling down the hall....

then I heard a baby cry.  

I'd like to say I was happy for her, 

but really, I thought it wasn't fair

 that my body just wasn't getting

 the hang of this birthing thing.

To be sure, the following morning

 the PIT did its work and I was rewarded with a beautiful baby girl.

She looked just like her older brother, 

but with white fuzz on her head and a pink bow of yarn that the nurses glued to her head with gel. 

Her big brother looked enormous to me when I came home with her. 

He was only 22 months old, but my goodness, 

I thought he looked like a five year old.

These two became inseparable....

masters of disaster

anything he did, she had to do......

plus, she liked to climb everything.......

cabinets, dressers.....

you name it, 

she climbed it.

 She also showed her artistic talents in moving everything around to a better place. 

I ended up with just a sofa, chair, table and lamp.  

At one point, I thought she had 

outgrown this behavior 

and put a small plant on the table.

 I found a trail of potting soil 

across the room leading to the nearly

 uprooted plant in its new spot. 

Then, there was the morning she woke me up 

and I looked at her sweet face

 which was just at my eye level 

covered in red lipstick 

and heard the words, 

"I pretty mommy!" 

After asking what else was pretty,

 she led me to the dining room 

and the new dining room chairs that were now decorated with red lipstick, 

along with the table, 

the piano, 

some sofa pillows, etc......

that was when I discovered the miracle of GooGone. 

This child was a ray of sunshine.

 Always quiet. 

Always smiling.

Always following big brother into whatever mischief was on the schedule for that day.  

One day in the midst of unemployment, 

another baby on the way, 

and many other unknowns, 

she be-bopped in the house and declared that 

she wanted to ask Jesus into her heart.

She's been following Him ever since.

She followed Him 

through some scary surgery times. 

She followed Him

 on mission trips to Mexico. 

She still follows Him there as often as she can.

She follows Him

 as a nanny to four beautiful little girls.

She follows Him

 as a young wife and new mommy.

Others follow her.

She and hubby Joseph are brand new parents 

and are leading little Brandon

 to Jesus every day. 

She is a godly young woman

 and I am very happy to count her

 as my friend.

I realize that this is way too late for a 

birthday blog.....

but, hey, 

I think she will cut me some slack, 

especially,

 after all the time it took 

to get the lipstick off the chairs.

Happy Birthday, Carol!

Happy Birthday, Joe!