Dear Leona Grace,
We did it!
Though every family member was instrumental in making this moment happen (especially your amazing big brother) I am writing this post to you for more than one reason and I hope these words find their way to you one day when you are older and maybe need to hear them the most.
I wrote a letter to you this same time last year. I was scared. It was exactly 30 days away from your due date. My second semester of grad school had started and I was HUGE! I laid in bed; tossed and turned, and then finally decided to get up. I was a ball of nervous energy and needed to express my concerns so I went into your nursery and I wrote you a letter.
I didn't feel like I was enough to pull off graduating on time and being a good mother.
Wow- I’m finishing the rest of this post 5 years later. Facebook just disabled my account and I lost all my photos, videos, and journals; everything. I’m coming back
to my blog to see what I can recover and I see I left this post unfinished.
Sweet Leona- you are 5 now. I’ve graduated and am on my 2nd job working as a dietitian at the VA. Life has been so surprisingly hard since this last post. So much has changed after the pandemic including all kinds of family and friendship dynamics. It’s a weird place to be but visiting this old post makes me remember that life has been hard before, but so rewarding. Life is probably never going to stop being hard but I can tell you one great thing that came out of all of these hardships- JESUS! Your daddy and I have grown closer to our Heavenly Father in ways that wouldn’t be possible without these hardships. If you are reading this, please ask him about what happened on Dec 14th, 2023. It’s a beautiful story.
Leona- you continue to be such a joy in our lives. Despite writing this 5 years later, I can still remember all the things from this day; your sweet disposition and fresh baby smell as we were still using baby detergent to wash all your clothes. I love that smell! It all floods me with so many memories that are the balm to my soul these days. I never want to forget and I never want you to forget how loved and treasured you are. You came at what I thought was the most inconvenient time but God picked your time perfectly. I couldn’t imagine this world without you baby girl. In the 5 years it took to finish this post, the one verse that comes to mind that I want you to remember is proverbs 3:5- Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding.
Mom
Xo
