Luke is 2

"I can't believe we're here" I thought, as we sat in the office. My head was splitting with a migraine, one of the worst I'd had in years. I was wearing sunglasses. Hollywood style.

As the nurse gathered all of the necessary information, I couldn't begin to tackle all the questions piling up in my mind...and in my heart.

What if the baby wasn't normal?

How am I going to manage FIVE children, when I feel so overwhelmed with four?

Can my body handle the stress at my age?

How would this change my relationship with my other children...again?

Is this going to kill me?
I can't begin to explain how utterly helpless I felt the day I discovered that I was pregnant with Luke. Needless to say, he was a "surprise baby", and I had settled in my mind the need to have more children. Life is crazy with three...insane with four...and breathtaking with five children...and I had no idea how I was going to manage. Never mind that I have a very supportive, hands-on-the-kids type husband. Never mind that I have a relationship with my loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father, Who seeks to prosper me. Never mind that they give you fairly decent medication these days for crazy, insane, and breathtaking seasons of your life. At that point...my attitude was...never mind.

It took me about 2 days worth of migraines (my hormones were obviously changing), and crying & "carrying on", as my Daddy has always said it. And then...I settled. I settled into an attitude of "okay, we're gonna do this" for a while. And as my belly grew (as well as more prominent features on my body), I began to get excited about this new baby. I wanted to hold him. I wanted to smell him. I wanted...him.

Oh...and how did I know it was a "him"? Because God told me, that's how. There were a couple of "dead giveaways". Go there with me...

In April, my Mom gave me a baby blue nightgown for my birthday...one she had bought before we even knew I was pregnant. God whispered it to me then..."it's a boy...", He said. I wasn't sure. Then in late summer, our German Shepard, Basil, gave birth to a liter of 5...YOU GUESSED IT...3 girls and 2 boys. God said it again, and although I knew it in my heart...I was still cautious. When we talked about naming the baby, we already had a boy name that we had chosen a decade before, but we couldn't AT ALL settle on a girls name. I knew it then, too. Of course, DEAN, knew it all along. He & God had been talking (I blogged on that a while back). Then came the day that we found out Luke was finally coming into our family...there he was IN ALL HIS GLORY on the monitor for the ultrasound, boy parts in hand. He was kicking around and playing, and sucking his thumb. And my heart melted...again.















Today,
Luke is 2 years old.

Because he's had an extremely hard past 7 days, he doesn't have much energy for blowing candles out and opening his presents. He doesn't know the difference, anyway. But we all know the difference that God has made in the life of our precious family, because of Luke. He's pretty much got us all wrapped around his fingers, his toes, his shoulders...his whole little body! He's precious!!! God has blessed us far beyond our wildest imagination, and this little boy is only TWO!!!

Looking back at those first few days into my knowledge that another little Jones was coming, I understand how I felt so overwhelmed. There are plenty of days I feel overwhelmed NOW-HAHAHA!!! But I'll be forever grateful...forever thankful...that my God, my Father, heard my crying & "carrying on", and chose to bless our home with baby Luke anyway.

God is faithful. God is true. God is loving. God is merciful.

God is God.

And I am...forever His.

Happy Birthday Luke! You might never understand how much your family adores you. But hopefully, one day, you'll understand how big God is and how He's used YOU to put things in motion that might not have ever been.