1 month

Baby boy,

You are one month old.  Actually, you will be five weeks old tomorrow.  I hope soon to sit down and write to you all about the day you were born.  Today, though, I want to tell you just how loved you are.  I have found that the most important things to say are usually the most difficult to put into words, so this will not be easy or come out right.  I hope you understand.

I am completely in love with you.  Already, you are so different from your sister.  A completely new and beautiful life that God has leant to your Dad and I for a little while.  It is a huge honor to play this role in your life, a life sure to be full of adventure and magic and blessing and love.  We are not perfect parents, but we are ready to learn from you, and are honored to be able to teach you the things you will need to know about the world.

We are getting an early lesson this week, Luke.  I am sitting next to you in the hospital, listening to you breathe deep with the help of a little tube of oxygen taped near your nose.  We all had a cold this month, but you are too new to tackle big viruses like the one you caught.  I wish I could fight it off for you.  This is the first of many things I will want to take care of for you that you will have to do for yourself.  I promise to try to remember how strong and brave you were created to be, and to try not to intervene too much as you chart your own course.  You can do hard things, and what you can't do alone, God can do in and through you.  I believe that.  So, little man, you fight this virus, and I will watch and be proud of my son and the tough stuff he is made of.

Your Daddy, he is an amazing man.  Full of tough stuff. He is an adventurer, a teacher, an honest  and passionate fighter. You will get to know him as you grow.  I miss him, sitting here alone with you in the hospital.  It was so hard for him to leave us here and go pick up your sister, but it was the right thing to do, and so he did it.  You will learn from him how to do the right thing, even when it is hard.  He is really good at that, and it is one of the most amazing parts about him. 

We are lucky, Luke, lucky to have each other.  Not everyone is born into a home so full of love and faith and hope as ours.  We are rich with all the most important things.  And now we are really rich, because we have you.

Luke, I am your Mama, and I love you so much.  It is my honor to spend this time with you.  I am proud of you already.  Get well, little man.