5 years in the make ..... so does that mean I have to do chores too?

At 5:30 am on 4/25 our Ivey will be 5 years old.

A milestone.

So tonight I kissed her goodnight for the last time as a 4 year old. 5 seems so much older.

And it is.

And I am sure that tomorrow night there will be much to write about - we'll celebrate in true Ivey style. Tonight instead of rehashing the 4th year, I think I'll wait and enjoy the excitment of the promise of her 5th year.

In this moment I am in awe of my girl and all of her accomplishments. There are so many. Nevertheless, her birth day comes with many emotions. Many are our personal accomplishments and somehow surviving these 5 years with her and we know that we can face a challenge and keep on going. Sometimes we have felt broken, but we are always mended with something extra in the new weave. I don't think that will ever change. Her birth nitched a literal mark in our lives, a "before life" and a "life after". Now days it is almost impossible to remember life without her.

The boys have reached an age where toddler memories are fading and they too don't remember life before Ivey. They revel in the wake of Ivey's existance. They are made of something extra special. They exceed anything I could have ever dreamed for them. Not only does Ivey enrich their lives in ways still to be imagined - She complements their spirit. The boys are truely the center of her world. Personally I can't imagine what it must be like to know that another soul exists because me, but Ivey lives just for them. And now that they are a little older - 5 years into this life - well, they are understanding more. Just this week I got to witness firsthand the normalcy they crave amidst the deepest of love for their sister. Wise beyond their years. But, that is another story.

Despite their unbelievable moments ...

They are just brothers and a sister. The boys make sure that she is - well - just as typical as they are -- to them she is plain ole' Ivey.

So Friday it was made clear to me that it is unfair that the two boys of the house have to do chores and Ivey doesn't. This was explained to me in grave detail. Life just isn't fair...

(a plea for sibling equality)

So it was decided by the older brothers that it is high time Ivey start carrying her weight around here. And with no input on my part it was decided that Ivey should start hanging her shirts on hangers and hanging them in her closet and she should put her pants away in the drawer...and... she should also load the washer and dryer.

So......

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Apparently your newness has worn off and you are one of the boys now -

Run Your Race

Another birthday approaches. But it is not just a birthday, for our entire family it is an anniversary, the anniversary of new life. For the first time I have realized how coincidental it is that her birthday lands right in the middle of spring. It’s the perfect time for beginnings.

This past week we had her annual IEP for school. Without a doubt it is a miracle in itself that she is attending school. She made it there. But what strikes me hard is how perfectly things have worked out.

My girl maybe the luckiest girl in the state of Georgia.

Many would find that hard to imagine between the four injections of an antibiotic that stings like crazy in this past week, the IVig infusion today and the two CT scans planned for tomorrow, but really that is a sidebar for her. Still she has a lucky streak. The powers that be have decided that this girl of mine will be blessed. The people in place in her school are amazing. Our school experience, her school experience, is unlike most deafblind students in Georgia.

Blessed. Beyond. Imagination.

And this year as Ivey’s birthday fast approaches I can’t help but think of them. Over the past few years this race we have been running with Ivey has been hard. Now we have this team at school running this race with us. Teaching her.

Earlier this year I took the boys to watch the movie Secretariat. I cried pretty much the entire movie. Throughout the movie the words “Run you race” kept surfacing. I sat and would look at the boys and think "Just run boys, run". Stupid maybe. I like the philosophical stuff. But when I look at Ivey it seems so appropriate too.

Without knowing it, she is running her race.
Her race.
Not my race or your race, just her race.
Her pace.

Some of us get to sit in the stands and watch and cheer her on.

And then there are some of us who run with her -

She can’t hear the defining words of her appearance. She doesn’t notice the quizzical comments of strangers.

No.

She just runs.

It is her race.

She is running to win.

She started out of the gate late and slow.

But she is thundering ahead.

There is a finish line out there.

She sees it.

She feels it.

I’m running.

Matt is running.

Two brothers are side-by-side with her.

Ivey’s League is running.

And then there is this amazing group running with her, they love her, they want her to win….they want her to …. Run Her RACE….

This year for her fifth birthday all I can think is “Run your race baby girl, run your race”. You’ve been running it all along - with and without me. Just keep running.

We’ll be there cheering you on –
ALL of us.