We were living in the Philippines, struggling with what God's will was for our lives, thinking it was to adopt two precious boys. My heart's desire was always to have children and we were stuck in a time of figuring out His will for our lives. One night in the middle of the night, Jesus called me out of bed, literally, he called me out of bed and told me to go downstairs. After asking a few more times if it was really him and if I really should, I did go downstairs and have a precious time with Him. I can still remember the exact words He said to me that night, "Even now I am preparing your womb." Those words were so sweet to hear and put a hope in my heart. Fast forward a few months and Nate and I were beside ourselves with excitement, I was pregnant!! Fast forward a few more months, after much struggle and what felt like the ripping out of our hearts, we then decided to return to the states, leaving many people we had come to love and having to leave the sweet boys our hearts had so deeply connected with. It was one of the hardest and most joy filled times in our lives - such feelings of contrast - and a time that all we could do was trust the Lord and depend on him.
When we moved back to the states, Nate was without a job, we were pregnant with our first baby, and we did not have much money...so, we moved in with my parents. Nate finished a room in their basement, looked for a job and I SLEPT! I was so exhausted and worn out from all the emotion and just being pregnant. Looking back, that was such a sweet time. We had so much time together and were in such a safe place with my parents.
On Feb 21st, I had a scheduled Dr. appointment - I was still about two weeks from my due date. My parents were out of town for their anniversary and it just seemed like any normal day. However, it turned out to be a very crazy day!! Our Dr was worried about baby's heart rate and that I was measuring smaller than I had, so he felt it was time to meet our baby....WHAT!? I think he had to repeat that a few more times before it sunk in. We played it cool until we got in the car...I started crying, filled with so many emotions and Nate went into list mode...
Well, the rest is history I guess! We checked into the hospital, mom and dad made it back from the mountains, and we had a beautiful baby girl born to us on February 22, 2005. She was the tiniest, most precious baby I had ever seen. 5lbs 13oz, 19 inches long.
Three hours after Elizabeth Grace Reinhard was born, we found out that she was born with a cleft pallet. It was a shock and so hard to believe...what it meant in the immediate was that I would not be able to breast feed her, I was heart broken. But, God was so good to bring us amazing people to help us through those beginning feedings and learning curve, to pray, to encourage, to cry with me, and to bless us with love and help. I was determined that even though I couldn't breast feed her, she and I would bond over feedings - I was the only one that fed her, I pumped, fed her, rocked her ...repeat, repeat, repeat. It was again a most precious time, both hard and beautiful.
When Elizabeth was 8 months old she had her first surgery to repair her pallet. That was another very hard time, watching your baby being rolled away to a 3 hour surgery was excruciating. However, everything went fine and besides many sets of tubes in her ears, she has not had to have any other surgeries.
My dear Elizabeth, you have an amazing story that brings so many emotions but mainly Joy! God gave me the desire of my heart and spoke so personally to my heart about you. Now you are 7 years old! I am so proud of the young girl you are. You are kind, fun, smart, beautiful, and just plain amazing!!
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| E at 3 months (I don't have any newborn pictures on the computer... how funny to not have had a digital camera at that point!) |
Happy Birthday Dear Elizabeth Grace!
1 comment:
I remember that newborn, that oh so cute, sweet little face of hers. She still has it too! You are a lucky mama!
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