Celebrating Our Firstborn's Birthday Today

March 24, 2009

Celebrating Our Firstborn’s Birthday Today

Arianne. Jacqueline.  It’s your birthday!  Time to party!

Of course you love all your children just the same, but there really is something special about the firstborn.  Look at any parents expecting or enjoying the first year of their first child, and you know what I mean. They just can’t get over the awesomeness of it all.  It’s the newness, the miracle before us, the perfection, the humility, and the perfect joy – an amazing, wonderful, gift from God.

I remember how extremely happy and how horribly scared we felt after her birth, just 31 years ago, today.  A few hours after her birth, we were all resting comfortably, and my hubby left us to go get a bite to eat.  He was gone for what seemed like an eternity -over two hours!

When he returned, and I asked him  where he went, he said, “The whole thing was just too much for me to take in, I had to take a walk, I needed to pray, I needed to ask God to please be with our new little family.”  A two hour walk? In Minneapolis. In MARCH. In the cold (below freezing) and snow?  I had done the labor, but clearly,we both had given birth to a new life.

I also remember how, as new parents, we worried so about her health, her nutrition, her development, her future schooling, her christian education, socialization with other children.  What DIDN”T we worry about?  New parents are not just tired, they are carrying the burden of their children’s entire future.

Well, I’m happy to report, our first born is doing very well.  She is a smart, beautiful,loving wife to Jacob, and an amazing mom to her three boys.  She has always been a natural leader, among her friends and among her siblings.  They all look up to her, and seek her advice.  I wasn’t surprised at all when her sister told me she had over 5,000 “followers” on Twitter.  People have been following her for years.

She has an independent streak a mile long, which used to frustrate the heck out of us as parents.  But, it also meant, no one was going to talk her into anything.  Peer pressure?  Not a problem.

Yes, all those worries we had as new parents, served to make us better parents, and more than anything, it increased our dependence on God.  We soon realized that taking on the entire burden of our children’s future was more than mere humans can take, we had to give our future and our children’s future to Him.  Surrender it all.  And God has blessed us beyond belief.

Our lovely daughter is now a parent with the same worries, the same struggles.  We hope we have set the example for her to love her little ones unconditionally,  and to teach them without ceasing the love God has for them.  But most of all, how important it is to trust Him to be with them, and to bring them a beautiful future.  It will all be unfolded right before your eyes.

Arianne, you are still an awesome miracle to us, and we can’t wait to see what else is in store.  We know it will be unique, fun, hilarious, funky, sweet, intuitive, brilliant, loving, and totally out of the box, because that’s who you are.

Loving you with all we have, all we are,

Mom & Dad

About these ads

Permalink