Happy Birthday my Musical Laughter!

I remember vividly where I was exactly seven years ago today. I was two weeks from my due date (thanking the good Lord for air conditioning!) and as soon as my alarm went off that morning, my middle daughter started pounding on my belly to get out.

We hustled~ well, as fast as you can hustle in Atlanta traffic~ to the doctor's office just in time for my water to break. I got VIP entrance into the OR (via a top-of-the-line wheelchair) and actually bumped a good friend of mine from her scheduled C-section.

I couldn't write that little true-life tidbit into a novel. No one would believe me!

At promptly 1:13 PM my precious 10 lbs 6 oz princess wailed and wiggled her way into the world. She hasn't stopped moving since.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I call this kiddo energy personified, a moniker she does a cute hands-on-the-hips "Mommy!" smirk when I say. I also call her my Musical Laughter.

See, she taught this very serious mommy how to laugh from my heart. My oldest and I could sit around and read all day, discussing the finer points of literature. Not this kiddo. My second princess lives to move and grove and make us laugh.

Just her smile lights up a room. And her giggle is truly musical.

She's also an old soul. This is the kiddo who asks questions like, "Mommy, is it okay to be glad when a bad guy (in a book) dies?"

Uhm...

Wow. We've had a few very good theological discussions branching out from that one question. Not to mention all the other great questions she asks about God, life, and love.

I could share story after story about this little girl. She's the one who gave me the privilege of taking her place in the Emergency Room when she was just a toddler.

I did a superman dive onto hard concrete (with the help of angels I'm convinced) to get between her and the front sidewalk when she took a face first leap from our front porch. In the process, I ripped a tendon in my foot which landed me in surgery and a cast for 6 weeks.

My little one cried every time she looked at that cast. Until I explained I'd do it all over again to keep her safe.

Then she smiled.

Just like I do when I look at that scar. It reminds me of the price and the payoff of being a mommy.

Sometimes we get hurt.

And sometimes we get molded more into the image of Christ. Scars and all.

So to my Musical Laughter I say a loud and proud, HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY! God placed a beautiful gift in my arms and heart when He gave you to me, to hug and to hold for these many treasured days. I love you~ to infinity and beyond!