goddaughters are the coolest

So my plan to get back at it and blog like a maniac – not so much then, yeah? The sounds of crickets would be deafening if there were any ears here to hear it.

Spectacular, I’ll just continue on eating bits of roasted coconut and thinking about dinner...

For anyone still here though it’s worth mentioning that a lot has been going on here lately and that would mostly explain my absence in this space.

Most notably, and continuing the train of thought from my last post, there is this tiny new human on planet earth called Ramona.

She’s like the best pound of sugar ever and when she’s all wrapped up in a blanket she’s like a noisy little burrito that smells like a warm summer day.

Of course she was far less impressed with me the first time we met but I won’t hold it against her. It must be something about the girls in this family of ours… Olivia was a little “take it or leave it” with me upon first impressions too (bears mentioning however that Jack and Tristen seemed to have no issue with me so this just leads me to believe I’m destined to be a boy mom someday which I am so totally happy with).

She soon warmed up to me though and by our second meeting she slept all snuggly like on my chest for the entire day. I'm not sure which one of us was happier about that. Actually, Maria might have been happiest about that because for the first time in a month neither she nor Chris had a baby attached to them and they could focus on being all cute and snuggly with each other. Win win win. 

As for me though, I was just happy to be there and rest in the complete awe of the tiny little person in my arms.

This little soul who was so prayed for so long before she was even an earthly spark. 

And it is amazing to me when I stop and think about it too intensely and really let it all sink in...

A couple of years ago, and I'll remember this forever, I sat across the table from Maria over a not-quite-meal of tortilla chips and salsa while we waited for whatever sizzling plate it was we had ordered. The two of us along with Ashley (and in between wicked bouts of missing Laura who was now far away in Montana) were playing catch up from the past few months and wondering how we could live in the same city and not manage to make time to be together.

That was when Maria told us, so many months after the fact, about how close she had come to not being there to sit with us and talk with us and eat chips with us long after the bowl of salsa had run out...

And I remember the look on her face when she registered the look on mine - the immediate turn of the tables with her sweet and humble heart instantly concerned for the sister who was now the one hurting...

And then I cried. 

Because the thought of losing my Maria was too much. And the thought of her feeling like no one needed her was so lost on me because there I was, right there, needing my friend at that very moment, and every moment, even when she wasn't but two feet away from me. 

Then to fast forward to this new moment.

With her watching me now as I held her tiny daughter for the first time.

This was what God had been working on.

...Oh boy, that got heavy and a little lost in thought there... But that's about the gist of it. From one extreme to the other, I watched my sister go from questioning her own existence to bringing a whole new life into existence.

And that is just one side of the story of how Ramona Charlie got here.

And now she is three months old and I continue to be completely unable to get over it.

I suspect this will be the case for the rest of her life.

I'm ok with that.