The emotion of it all...

June 24th.

This is a very important date. Maybe not for you, but for our family, it is a date that will not be forgotten so easily. 

There has been significance to this date for five years now, but this year adds one more important turning point to it. 

Let me back up and explain. 

Five years ago, I lay in the O.R. ready to have Clara. We were excited and nervous. Excited to meet the newest member of the Little family and to prove once and for all I was right about her being covered in hair. (The heart burn was horrid this pregnancy.) Nervous, because I was about to have my third c-section and we knew already that there was possibility of complications. 

Clara Esther Little was born and we could not have been happier. She had that full head of hair that I expected, along with long fingers, petite features, and a perfect, button nose. 

That day was beautiful. God granted us the gift of life that so many dream of and we were so very blessed. 

But God was not done.

My complications were worse than once expected and things began to turn bad pretty quickly. Peter and Clara left the room and the doctor began her work. Seven hours later, I lay in the ICU, sedated, and broken and beaten. But alive. God saved me that day. I should have been dead. All the medical staff that treated me said so. The 19 units of blood I received was proof as well. 

After that day, I had a new outlook on life. Not just the frailty of it, which was very apparent now, but the gift that it truly is. We are never guaranteed another moment, so we are encouraged, no, really we are dumb not to enjoy every moment the Creator has granted us. 

This year, June 24th opens up a new significance to us. It's been one month. One month since my eyes have looked on Molly. One month since I have run my fingers through her hair. One month since I have prayed over her. Once month since I whispered 'Good bye' in her ear. 

June 24th is a day that brings so much joy and immense sadness. Thankfulness for life and sorrow for death. Isn't that how it goes though? Life is full of happiness and sorrow. Perhaps we are not comfortable with that. But without the sad, we can not enjoy the happy. That is human nature. 

But I look forward to the day when all sorrow will be gone. All tears will be wiped from our faces. And we will never part again. 

So June 24th, to me, is Hope Day. Hope in life. Hope in sorrow. Hope in making new memories. Hope in reunions.