On Friday, March 20 at 2:37, Leah Grace entered the world. She is a precious gift from God. We now know that her brain development was not complete and her diagnosis is a severe form of holoprosencephaly. So far, all her time since birth has been spent in the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Vincent's hospital. The whole family has both rejoiced and grieved. We have rejoiced in the answer to our prayer that Leah Grace would be born alive and able to breathe on her own. We have rejoiced in being able to spend time with her, touching her, loving her, holding her. Her parents have shown such tenderness and love to her. Luke said to me the other day something to the effect of, "whatever her life may be, we will be happy to love and care for her". God has given us a gift of life in her that is not perfect, that may not be very long, and may be difficult when it comes to caring for Leah, but it is a wonderful gift. I am realizing with every passing moment spent with Leah, that life is so precious. Each breath is a gift; each cry, each yawn, every moment. I have a new perspective on the beauty of life by my time spent with Leah that I may not have been able to understand in any other way than through Leah's life. I do grieve some things. That her life span may be very short. She may not be able to come home In everything, though, I see God’s hand at work. He loves Leah the same as He loves me. As I look forward to a day in eternity when I will stand before Him complete and perfected, so Leah will also be made whole and complete. I have been greatly comforted by Psalm 139 verses 13 - 17. I have taken the I’s and me’s and put in Leah’s name.
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of Leah’s body and knit her together in her mother’s womb. ...You watched her as she was being formed in utter seclusion, as she was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw Leah before she was born. Every day of her life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about Leah, O God. They cannot be numbered."
Leah is a special precious gift!
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of Leah’s body and knit her together in her mother’s womb. ...You watched her as she was being formed in utter seclusion, as she was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw Leah before she was born. Every day of her life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about Leah, O God. They cannot be numbered."
Leah is a special precious gift!
