I have succumbed!

I have tried forever to resist the urge to start a blog, but, late this Tuesday evening, I just had to do it. Ben has his own (see my links) to describe his experiences as a father, so I thought I'd start one to detail mine as a mother. I will of course post Amelia Jane pics, but if you're looking for just pictures, check my facebook profile, which is updated as often as I take them.

I need to go to bed before Ms. Amelia Jane gets up to eat, but I wanted to explain the title behind this blog before I did that. One night--last week, I think, I was rocking her trying to get her to go to sleep and quickly going through my repertoire of memorized songs. I started thinking of the Garth Brooks songs I know and thought of "Unanswered Prayers". Ben laughed at me when I sang "my wife and I ran into", but, despite that, I started thinking of really how much of an unanswered prayer Lia is. Many of you who I hope will read this (even though I am bad about reading yours!!) helped us through what had been to that point the hardest thing our marriage had endured, as well as one of the worst things either of us had ever experienced, when we had our miscarriage last year. We obviously prayed hard for that pregnancy, even as we were told it was over, but God knew better. We know now that Peanut's passing prepared us for Amelia Jane. We also know that if Peanut had been born, we would not have the sweet baby we have fallen so head over heels for. So in my mind Lia really is an unanswered prayer. Since that blog name was taken, I opted for another part of the song--and I couldn't agree more with it--our darling daughter is one of God's greatest gifts EVER.

I took this picture a few minutes ago. You can't tell here, but Lia's left eye is open a little--something she does when she's not *quite* asleep. We call her "popeye" when she does it.