A Blast from the Past
I have the sort of personality that gets increasingly more efficient the busier I am. Please don't interpret that as I would rather be busy than not. However, given my life's circumstances, my definition of busy often differs from most others. I have recently undergone major life changes, of which you are probably full aware. Given my increased need to be more efficient right now, I have decided to try and clean out my email-box. That is more messy than trying to clean the kids' bathroom, trust me. Almost as daunting a task, unlike cleaning a bathroom, I found quite a jewel amongst the rough (insert your own joke here).
Pre-blog days, I didn't spill as many of my thoughts on my web site after having kids as I did when I was preggers with the trio. It was more about pictures, because they spoke a ton on their own. Instead I wrote a lot of emails...and some posts to multiple friendly boards (back in the day, they were way less popular and a great means of support). But now in hindsight, my stories speak to me just as much as the pictures. The words I chose, the detail I recalled, the emotion I felt so strongly...IN ADDITION to the pictures of the events -- that is what can bring me back to that place and time.
Computer crashes and job change later, I came across a few emails that I had sense to save, and were in the 'notable' category. I will leave them completely unaltered, even if I find a typo or something to clarify. I figured I would share them here as I wrote them with my raw emotion. Now and then, I'll post one. I am so thankful that I have my own words at the time to recall these events, because they wouldn't be the same otherwise. We all know we cannot depend on our memory alone!
This is written right after we baptized the trio (8/3/02), which was one of our first major public outings:
Hi everyone. I just have to take a moment to gush. We had the trio's baptism this past weekend and it was such a special day for us. Because of everyone's schedules and their birthday (not to mention RSV season), we decided to wait until now. We had been trying to get to this church (since moving to this area, we haven't attended any church at all) for a while, but felt scared to go by ourselves with our three mobile children. We were going to try this church in particular upon recommendation from a friend. We were a little nervous attending the first service having our baptism, but there we were.
I'm so happy to say that it was perfect. The church was pretty full and the pastor announced our baptism, saying it was extra special because they were his first triplets. I thought, oh no, now we're going to be bombarded with comments. No, quite the contrary. Everyone was so wonderful, the service was great, and we can't wait to go back. We felt very relaxed, and this being a "contemporary" service, it was much more casual and had more music (very upbeat music I might add!). They have wonderful children's programs, so many families and we can't wait to meet new friends.
As for the baptism itself, it was great. When the pastor leaned the babies over to christen them, they each did something different. My daughter wasn't quite sure what was going on, so she didn't do much other than look like a little angel. "Crazy" son made a big pose and a funny face, which did what he hoped, got a laugh out of everyone. "Inquisitive" son got happy and thought he was going to get a bath, so he turned over to face (and play with) the water. Again, more laughter.
Now the really neat part of the day happened in preparation for the big moment. I had gotten them children's necklaces with a cross when Service Merchandise was going out of business. They came in little keepsake boxes, and the lady could only find two. She dug around after she saw how sad I was, and by some miracle, found a third in some random drawer completely out of place!!! The really neat part is that on the tops of the boxes which looked like blocks, there was an A. Two of them had it in blue, and the third was pink. Now tell me, was that not meant to be? I didn't even notice the colors until Saturday when I got them out to put on! And then if that wasn't cool enough, when we pulled into the church parking lot on Saturday, the second I turned off the truck, all three babies in unison yelled out ecstatically "YAY!!!!" Both DH and I were dumbfounded. Keep in mind that they are only 13 months old and don't go around yelling "yay" knowing what they mean. And they don't typically express any emotion when I turn the truck on or off. Finally, they never yell anything out in perfect unison!!!!!! We were just speechless. A sign, perhaps??? ;-) What a great way to spend a Saturday!
Anyway, I just had to share. My heart just swells with pride at these three miracles, and the every day miracles they bring to my life. Man, to only have one at a time!!! What you must miss! :-)
If you have the credentials, this is the link to a picture.
This entire long entry all said, it's the last paragraph in my old email that strikes me the most. That is something you really must live in order to fully appreciate...and also something that we can never be reminded enough. Amen.
