Happy Birthday Week to My GIRL

Amanda,
Where do I start....Twenty nine years ago this week, I was about to give birth to a little girl. It had been anything but a normal pregnancy. My short term memory is not what it once was, but wow does my long term memory remember every detail of that week. In May of that year, your Dad had taken a new coaching job, we had sold our house, bought a fantastic old 75 year old house in our new town, packed our boxes, sent them on ahead and then headed to Disney World with Greg. On the way home, at five months pregnant, I got very sick in New Orleans....which turned out to be a ruptured appendix. I ended up in a strange hospital, in a strange town, with a strange doctor and had major surgery. I spent 10 days in the hospital taking massive antibiotics. The details are only important because only later did the doctor tell me that I could have easily died along with you. So many people prayed. I can still remember feeling you move for the first time after surgery, praying that you had not suffered in trauma.

The story has a very happy ending. I arrived in a new town and it took me the rest of the pregnancy to unpack all the boxes. But that October week, twenty nine years ago, after a very short and easy labor, Amanda Parker Powell, arrived perfectly fine and the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. We had our boy and now we had our girl. We were more than grateful. I can never remember feeling more blessed.

I won't give the details of the next 29 years...but fast forward to your senior year in high school, which others can read here and here, but on a very ordinary day, our lives changed....That is where the title of the Christmas blog, A Baby Changes Everything, comes from. Not only did that baby in the manger change the world, this baby our baby was carrying, changed our lives. From that day until today, I can only tell you that you have made us proud. Was it always easy? No, but it was always worth it. Your boy became the most loved little boy by everyone. He really did have a village that called him theirs.
The fact that you carried the secret of your pregnancy for five months alone, so we could all get through the holidays, that you never considered abortion, that you knew this was a baby that was your responsibility and you were up for the challenge....all those things made us prouder than you will ever know. As I look back, I am still amazed at your strength.

Today you are not only the Mom to Parker, but to Dad's little namesake, Jack. You are not only a daughter, you are a wife, a sister, a sister-in-law, an aunt, even a good friend to Parker's Dad but most of all,
you are an extraordinary, incredible Mom. You did not marry until Parker was eight...I know there were some very lonely days but you were always aware that whoever you married would not only be your man, but Parker's step-dad and that person had to be the RIGHT one.
HE was and HE is! ...and he loves Parker as much as his own little man, Jack. Every time I see your little family together, I whisper a prayer of thanks. I am not going to even caption these pictures...I think they will speak for themselves. A girl madly in love with her man and
her boys...and what Mom and Dad could ask for anything more.

Amanda, your energy amazes me, your work ethic makes me proud, your commitment to your family makes me smile. Thank you for two of the most special little boys we could have ever dreamed of. They rock our world...daily. I cannot imagine life without them.
I have never known two little boys that adore their Mom more ..and I am pretty sure that Micah feels like he won the lottery.
Happy Birthday Week!!!! We celebrate YOU!
I love you,
Mom