(For Violet, a poet who has just chosen her Bible verse for the year.)
Fighting January sleet/snow, we left Michigan
on freezing roads and
reached our new home two days later.
Utility mapping wasn't
new to [my husband]; impending fatherhood was. On
the day of nurse's call, Julana had a sense
of God's love for the baby.
Understanding the statistics was
still a shock.
A dream showed Julana our baby nursing.
Creating a nursery kept us busy; so did
having a lawn ; [my husband] first mowed
in April. May arrived; we prepared for
labor with Lamaze classes. Denver
drew [my husband] for programming classes.
Infant care, CPR, and nursing classes were
soon followed by the pediatrician interview.
By late June, the
obstetrician decided to induce. We
raced to the hospital, and the next morning,
near dawn, July 27, [our son] came.
Until signs were stable, [our son] stayed in the
neonatal ICU. He returned
to [our] Drive
on July 1.
Under the care of Mom and Dad, with
support of family and friends, he thrived.
Audiology and cardiology found no problems.
Steadily, [our son] nursed and grew, weighing
over 15 pounds at four months, surprising his
nurse and pediatrician.
In the fall, he
started physical therapy.
Gaining trunk control and
improving head control is our goal. Now a
veteran father, [my husband]
enjoys holding and chatting with [our son]
nightly, repeating "oohs" and "aboos".
In the past year, we have
shared ups and downs. We
appreciate your support, and
in the year ahead,
ask continued prayer. Through the
holidays and beyond, we wish you His peace.
9 safe months of pregnancy
:
6 months of health for [our son]; thank You.
Amen.
And think how far God has brought you since then!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this.
Julana,
ReplyDeleteI realy like the different look for the blog.
What a great post - it has so much packed into it and yet is not cluttered (speaking technically).
Speaking humanly - love it.
Wonderful post - it speaks to the heart.
ReplyDeleteOh my, thank you!! (see, you are a poet; I knew it all along!) This is very moving - a wonderful signpost along the way to now. Isn't it great how God takes us by the hand through things, rather than handing us a set of binoculars and telling us to find our own way?
ReplyDeleteBlessings on your son and the 2006 version of that 1997 mother and father!
Finally got around to reading this. Sorry. I'm not qualified to comment intelligently on poetry, but this seemed to be good stuff.
ReplyDeleteThank, Sparrow. You're right; it's been quite a path. I was looking for this year's Christmas letter, and found this, and was glad to be reminded. I don't remember when I wrote it, but it never got sent.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Catez. Forcing the story into a form pared it down and took the angle of light out of my hands. Scraped it a little raw.
Thank you, My Kid's Mom.
Ha, Violet. I am a former poet wannabe. :-)
Looking back, you see things you didn't see at the time, for sure--that "Strong Hand of Love hiding in the shadows" (Mark Heard).
Thank you for your blessing. You are a renaissance woman.
Thank you, Vashti.
Thank you, Martin. I don't really think of it as a poem, but the form does have a name, starting all the lines with letters that spell out a word. I remember Walter Wangerin doing several of them in one of his books.
P.S. Catez,
ReplyDeleteOn the change in the blog template-- I closed a number of ul tags that had been left open when I was moving titles around, and voila!
I didn't notice it was an acrostic till you bolded the letter - duh! Now I am in awe!
ReplyDeleteHope you're feeling better!!
'letters'
ReplyDeleteViolet,
ReplyDeleteI got the sense readers may not have seen it. (I'm sure you're not the only one.) That's why it was titled "Christmas". :-)
P.S. I was thinking how fun it would be for you to do this with your verse for the year, at the end of the year.