5...

...is the number of kids I have now. It's crazy--I still haven't really wrapped my mind around it.

Not because 5 is some magic number that is so much bigger than 4, but because little Mary Lu came into our lives so casually and quietly: me getting pregnant again just 2 WEEKS after losing our baby, then having a pregnancy that just kinda seemed to fade into the background of daily life, homeschooling, and home improvement projects, and finally a labor and delivery that went pretty fast. (Though it did NOT feel that way at the time! Ouch!)

And now suddenly, we have this sweet baby girl in our family. It all feels like a whirlwind.

Each of our children is dear to me. Each in their unique way. Mary is a profound gift and I feel like I'm still processing through it all. The grief you feel when you lose a baby through miscarriage is overwhelming. Finding out God is giving you another child right in the midst of that grief is both amazing, and strange.

Yet God is good, and makes beauty from ashes, and as a result, my daughter Mary Lucille is sleeping in the next room.

Thank you all SO MUCH for your well-wishes and prayers and congratulations. Mary is meant to be here, and in our family. She came into our lives gently, a sweet miracle from God at a time when it seemed there were mostly just feelings of pain and loss. I may be sleep-deprived, but I'm positively delighting in this gift and in these early days of life with Mary Lucille.