Six months ago my wife and I were sitting on our couch when we got a message that said our daughter had a new sister. We were already parents of two one-year-olds and a two-year-old and quite honestly we often felt overwhelmed already. Most people get nine months to prepare themselves for a new child. Most people get to mentally, emotionally, and physically prepare for the arrival of a newborn for the better part of a year. We had one day.
In fact my wife and mother-in-law had done some spring cleaning only a month before. During that cleanse they had donated all of our baby items. All of our newborn cribs and swings and clothes were gone. Just in time for a newborn. Physically we weren’t prepared for new baby. But even more than that we weren’t prepared for a new baby mentally and emotionally. We had already done the newborn stage four times in less than two years. We just started to look forward to sleeping more than two hours at a time for the first time in years. We weren’t prepared to start over so soon. Again.
As unprepared as we were, bringing the newborn into our home was never a question. Not for one second. She was our daughter’s sister and that made her our daughter. We didn’t even have to discuss it. In fact the social worker asked my wife if she wanted to discuss it with me and my wife told her she would, but she didn’t need to. Which was true. There was never any discussion about what we would do. The choice had been made two years prior when we took her sister home from the hospital.
Even so it took me several months to wrap my mind around being the father of four very young children. It didn’t seem real for quite a while. I had just gotten used to saying that I was a father of three and now I was a father of four. God knows I love surprises, but he really went all in on this one. I was surprised. Big time.
The truth is sometimes the things that make life difficult are also the things that make it amazing. This is the time of year when people traditionally stop to acknowledge the things they are thankful for. I’m thankful for my family. And I’m especially thankful for unexpected surprises. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
