Faith, Hope, Love

Everyone has seen the “hand picture” that a family often takes, especially when a new little one comes along. The family puts their hands together and it’s neat to see such an itty-bitty baby hand next to the full-grown adult hand.

Well, I had to snap this shot for our family, because it represents so much to us. It’s not perfect, in fact it’s far from it and that’s what I love about it. It shows so much strength and unity for us and reminds me of the realities in life; scary and bad things happen and there’s not a damn thing we can do about them. But we usually don’t have to go through it alone, we have our loved ones that are right there with us and that is actually the miracle of life.

Now I preach this but it’s something I’m struggling with daily. I’m still terrified about the fact that my daughter seized for an hour. I’m angry that I don’t really know why it happened or if it will happen again. All I know is that I can only choose happiness and to enjoy and love my family each and every day. To be thankful for all that we’re given and to embrace those moments that we often look past, me included.

In this picture you will see my hand with a hospital bracelet from giving birth to our son, Michael and his little hand with a bracelet as well. You’ll also see my husband’s hand for being the father and oh my, does he earn that title completely. He’s always there for us and making sure we have everything we need. He’s made every doctor appointment for our daughter since this whole scary ordeal and did a lot of running back in forth between taking care of her while still being there for Michael and I as I was in labor. And then you will also see our two-year-old daughter, Independence’s hand in her father's. She has a hospital bracelet due to the fact that she had to have an EEG two days after I gave birth, and five days earlier she was taken by life flight and hospitalized.

So you see, I’m going to print and frame this picture rather than just another dressed up photo of us forcing smiles as we beg our kids to look at the camera. It’s not the prettiest photo and it was very stressful and inconvenient at the time but it’s so genuine. I will hold this picture close to my heart and remember it as a scary time yes, but also a time of faith and belief in trusting the Lord. A time when I was shown true love from the ones who mean most to me and a time of when I had no other choice but to take one day at a time. I hope this picture will serve as a daily reminder to us that life is so precious, that anything can happen at any time and that the most important thing is our family, next to God.

"Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they are already asleep."