marmie

marmie, marmsy, marms...

these are all nicknames for mara joy on whom

i've wanted to write a post, about for a long time now.

but, for whatever reason :), i haven't gotten around to it.

well, this past week, she got a brand new haircut,

and since i wanted to put a pic of it on the blog,

i thought now would be the time.

just the other day, at a homeschool playgroup

a friend said to me, my son and i began to read the Bible

and we have a few questions for you (a neat story in and of itself).

then she said, we want to know how come your daughter is named mara?

so, for those of you who know any hebrew,

or any of the places "mara" is used in Scripture,

but don't know how come we named her what we did... i'll explain.

we thought we would name her mira joy,

but we never thought she would enter the world the way she did,

and it made joel change her name just moments after she was born.

6 cm dilated, in labor and prepared to give birth at home,

mara's cord prolapsed (usually an immediate ceaserean,

as it could mean life or death for a baby),

but, for several reasons, after we made an emergency trip to the hospital,

my midwife decided to deliver mara naturally.

after many intense hours of labor, she was born...

cord first, hand and arm second, head third.

she fell onto the bed grey and lifeless.

she didn't move, didn't cry, didn't breathe.

an oxygen mask didn't revive her.

after a few of the most frightening moments in our lives,

our midwife was able to revive her with mouth to mouth.

we were all certain we had witnessed a miracle.

God had made what tasted so bitter so very sweet.

after her daddy returned with her from the nicu,

he said her name just had to be mara joy...

she truly lives that name to its potential,

and at least now, is probably our most exuberant child.

just to describe her a bit...

for the longest time, she spoke in only a sort of shout or a squeaky whisper.

she can sing many, lengthy songs boldly and word for word.

she rolls her eyes or flutters her eyelashes to accompany most of what she says.

she talks incessantly and her vocabulary sounds as if she reads websters.

she nicknamed jonas "baba" (pronounced bayba) and it stuck.

she is definitely obsessive compulsive as all of her clothes must match perfectly,

her blanket must be placed over her in just the right way, and the list goes on and on...

she is quite funny. she said to me yesterday,

"just so you know, mom... i have a baby in my tummy.

and its coming out in the morning".

so, as you can probably imagine, she is quite a little firecracker...

as wells as quite a joy.