Our Christmas Miracle

Okay, this is late. Lacie's birthday is December 4th. But I wanted have time to do this right.

Lacie turned 5 years old this year.



That's 5 years of life with this beautiful little girl that we were told we weren't going to get.



Five years of learning her quirky characteristics, like her classic tilted-head, squinty-eyed, grimaced-mouth look of inquiry. Or her running around corners using her head to "lead." Or the sly, nonchalant ploy she uses before swiping the object of her desire.



Five years of being a younger sister/best friend.



Two years of being an older sister/tormentor.



Five years of absolutely winning our hearts in every way possible.



When Lacie was born we had no insurance so we brought her home the same day, ironically, to save money. The pediatrician didn't actually check her out before signing the early release form. So it's not a huge surprise that we didn't initially catch just how perilously sick she was until day 4. We took her to a (different) pediatrician's office and left on an ambulance to Children's hospital. Her oxygen level was at 71%. We suspect now that that was the cause of some major brain damage she sustained.
Within an hour her little body started literally shutting down. Had we come half an hour later, had a series of mini-miracles not happened to put us with the right people in the right place at the right time, they wouldn't have been able to save her.
Instead, she remained at the hospital, baffling doctors for the next few weeks before making a LITERAL miraculous recovery.
In that time we witnessed several more miracles, received several blessings, had so many friends and family step up and help us out in ways we can never re-pay. The worst part came when the doctors told Mark they were fairly (95%) certain she would either live brain-dead for a couple years, or just die in the next 6 weeks, if not sooner.
Instead, we brought her home on Christmas Eve.

Lacie will surely have her struggles through-out her life because of her rough beginning. But nothing like what medical science would have predicted.
I don't know why she was miraculously healed.
I don't know why some little spirits are allowed to stay with us and others are not.
I could (and have) speculate over and over about some higher purpose in her living, or me not being strong enough to endure the loss or whatever. In the end I just don't know. And that's okay. I will just be grateful.
So very, very grateful.


This movie is one I made a year after she was born. I've watched it a couple hundred times since, and I'm finally now able to watch it without bawling. Mark isn't there yet.



Lacie, we love you. We are so grateful for you. Second only to our Savior, you are the greatest Christmas gift we will ever receive.