Kira's Birthday

Kira was born on Saturday, January 19th, at 3:36 AM. She weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 19 inches long. We are told that she has a head full of beautiful black hair. We are also told that she is "perfect". D is doing as well as can be expected after a C-section. J is very happy and proud.

J & D have decided to parent Kira themselves. Kira will be our niece, and not our daughter. Ian is doing O.K. with the news. He has gone to Kira's crib a couple of times and has looked into the crib and said, "I love baby Kira". He is unable to fully express his grief, but he is doing O.K. He knows that Kira will no longer be his sister. He knows that Kira will live with Aunt D and Uncle J. He understands that he will see her on occasion, and that she is not gone forever. Ian asked me if he could take his toy that he bought for Kira to her in the hospital. Jim and I told him that he could. We will be going to the hospital tomorrow so that Ian can give his present to his first cousin.

We will also be giving J & D all of the gifts that we have acquired for Kira over the past nine months. They will have a plethora of things from us: sheets, towels, blankets, clothing, pacifiers, pack-n-play, bouncy seat, bathtub and supplies, hamper, Boppy pillows, toys, bottles, and bibs. We are going to make every effort to make sure that J & D know that we still love them, and that we don't want things to be "weird" between us. Jim and I are broken, but God will mend us and lift us up. We know that He has a better plan for our lives, just waiting around the corner. I am excited about learning about God's plan for our lives.

J & D, if you are reading this, please understand that Jim and I love you. We love you without pretense or justification. We love you because Jesus Christ loved us enough to die on the cross and save us from our sins. We love you because God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we were in your shoes, we would want our brother and sister-in-law to not be mad or angry with us. We are not mad, and we are not angry. We are grateful to you, J & D, because for a time, you gave us hope. You gave us a purpose to keep going on. When we had our miscarriage in May, we thought that our journey for having children was over. And then, you gave us something to look forward to. We love Kira with all of our heart, and we know that she will have a wonderful family, in you, to live and grow-up with. We hope that you will see that Jim and I are NOT the kind of Christians that you have witnessed in the past. We do not say one thing, and mean another. We love you because Jesus loves us. And Jesus loves all of us - even you. We hope that you will see His love through our ability to forgive and forget. We hope that you will allow yourselves to experience the love of Christ, and perhaps, join a church in your area. We would love for you to spend eternity with us in Heaven someday. We love you so much, and we would really miss you if you were not in Heaven with us rejoicing at the end of our days.

This will be the last entry on this blog. It has been a wonderful journey of hope and longing. We ask that anyone reading this will pray that J & D will have peace and wisdom in the years ahead - so that they may know how to parent Kira to the best of their ability. We also ask that anyone reading this blog will pray that J & D will come to know Jesus Christ as He was meant to be known - as a God who LOVES them, no matter what, just like Jim and I love them - no matter what.

I leave you with this: (Romans, 8:1-14) New International Version of the Bible

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned the sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. the mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life, and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, and you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

Goodbye Kira. We will miss you as our daughter, but we will love you as our niece. We know that you are in good hands. We love you.

Love,
Aunt Kris, Uncle Jim, and Cousin Ian