Happy Birthday to Me!

Just this past Saturday, I celebrated my 33rd birthday.  Last week, Jeff asked me what I wanted for my birthday.  He said at this point in the year, he had usually heard me say what I wanted and had a good handle on what to get me, but this year he couldn't figure out what to do.  I told him it was because I already got the ultimate birthday present!  I am absolutely loving life!

Caleb had his first of three surgeries to fix his cleft lip and palate this week.  This first surgery focused on his lip and nose.  He handled it like a trooper, but I must say, I really didn't know what to expect and how to prepare myself for this surgery.  I had fallen in love with the little boy that stared at me from my computer screen when we first got our referral on January 24th of this year.

And I fell in love with him all over again as we got to know his sweet personality these first few weeks we've had him at home.

I knew that after saying good-bye to him and leaving him with the nurses when he went into surgery that I would likely not see that smile the same way ever again.  But when they called us into the recovery room that that what I saw was the face of my sweet boy (even though it was screaming at the time). :) I can't stop staring at his beautiful face fully amazed at what the surgeons are able to do.  And, how God lead us to this point in our lives.

As for the surgery and recovery, the first couple of days after the surgery were a bit rough.  Caleb was understandably fussy and we had to feed him with a syringe.  He is so used to having control of his bottle and eating very fast that the syringe was definitely not his preference.  I would say we even saw a little temper in the days immediately following the surgery that we had not previously seen.  We have since been able to bring the bottle back, and he is decidedly happier with that with a bonus of being better eating solid foods.

Through this whole process I have received so many incredible gifts that I cannot begin to name them all.  A very special lady at church gave us a card with some incredible words and a beautiful text that I think sums it up very nicely.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 (NKJV)