Nine years ago today Wallace and I were changed forever. For 5 years, we had been Lauren and Wallace. We enjoyed basketball games, watching football on TV, going to movies every weekend and sharing Papa John's pizza so hot it burned the roof of your mouth, and sleeping in on Saturdays (when I didn't have to work). Then, at 543 PM on November 6, 2002 all of that changed. At this time, a 7 lb 9 oz bundle of joy with chubby cheeks and dark hair came to be, and life as we knew it changed...
That Caleb Bates! He was trouble from the beginning. I spent a couple of months on bedrest because of blood pressure problems. Then, a night in the hospital when my pressure spiked and I was having contractions. We got sent home just long enough for Daddy to go to Taylorsville to kill a deer, then back to Lexington we went. I was induced at 7 in the morning, and had a pretty good go of it. Until he started having decels. They put that oxygen on me and started flipping me left to right... I'm not an OB nurse but I knew something was up. And my doctor would have to be in surgery, so some guy we didn't know came in... to a Daddy who thought the doc was going to miss the whole thing.
But wasn't it worth it???? That little bundle of joy that was so precious. He loved to snuggle and be snuggled. He loved his Daddy, and would cackle in laughter once he got old enough to know how silly he was. He thought "Mami" (Kami) hung the moon, and loved his "Monk". He liked to ride the riding mower with "Mike" and was the shining star of his Papaw William's eye. As he grew, he loved cars of any kind, dancing and music. Swimming and legos and playing in Fort Caleb. Jumping in mud puddles and deciding that maybe Kami didn't hang the moon... but Holly did because of her Sims game, or maybe Greg because of driving games on his computer.
When I was pregnant, I prayed for a little boy. Always an introvert, I prayed that he would have his Daddy's personality. and he does... just like him. (Um, a lesson... be careful what you pray for...) Never meets a stranger. Can... and will...talk to anyone. But so full of love for others. Full of curiosity.
It amazes me how two people as different as me and Wallace could have made something so perfect. It just shows how God works... how He knows. Jeremiah 1:5, "Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you..." Psalm 139: 13-14, "For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." There will never be another Caleb. Funny... smart... an electronic genius. I don't know what this world will be like when Caleb is my age. I have no idea what my smart, funny child will grow up to be. I do know that God has His hand on Him, and He has a plan for Him. Tonight, I'm so very thankful that God chose me to be this little man's Mom. Happy Birthday, Caleb! May God bless you with many, many more... and may you have everything you could ever want in life. I know you'll have all you need... because His grace is sufficient.
