I had a gut feeling from the moment I took the pregnancy test that this was going to be a little girl. Both Gabriel and Veronica had mentioned to me casually a few weeks before that there was a baby in my belly, and I laughed it off nervously. No way. Or so I thought.
I grew up with 7 sisters and 3 brothers, so the diamonds that sisters are is no foreign concept to me. They have been my most loyal friends, supportive confidants, and examples I have looked up to throughout my childhood and adulthood. So when Veronica prayed for a baby sister, I would send up the same hope with her. I just wasn’t expecting it so soon. But Veronica knew! And with the earnest confidence that only children have, she informed me it was a sister when I told them the news that a baby was indeed on the way. Gabriel and Max agreed that “we had enough boys”, so they were rooting for a girl too.
I would have been so happy with either considering I just love babies in general, and know whoever came home with me would be just what was intended for our family. I have to say though, when we found out it was a girl, I cried tears of gratitude. There is nothing sweeter to witness than answered prayers. We held the surprise to ourselves for months until little Azelia Jane arrived. We captured a few moments on film of the day they met their new sister, and Chelsey Heidorn snapped these photos for us. Some moments you can’t let escape you, and this was one of them.
Thank you all so deeply for your warm welcome to Azelie Jane. I am blissfully exhausted and so richly full. Yes, life is chaotic and messy right now, but I have never felt more sure of where my two feet stand in life. This is home.
P.S. We found out after naming her, that the hebrew translation for Azelie is actually “flower” after all! I guess we should have saved ourselves the perplexing hunt, and just listened to Veronica from the start!
