Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

Here is a preview of our coming attraction, Baby Stevens, coming to a hospital near us in March, 2007. I wish you could have seen the movement we saw during this ultrasound on August 10th, 9 weeks. You can see the baby's hands and head very clearly here. The baby measured nearly one inch. Wow—we both marveled at this gift that God has given us. Over and over I kept saying, “This baby is a gift.” This picture was taken a day before the one year anniversary of our miscarriage. We are awed by God’s graciousness to us. We haven’t told Elisabeth yet about the big change coming in her family—9 months is about one fourth of her life right now, a long time. But I have been happening upon various children’s books and poems that talk about the coming of a new sibling. The older siblings never seem very happy about it once the baby comes. But we know eventually she’ll be happy! In the meantime, I nap when she naps (fatigue is my main symptom) and am grateful for the one-on-one time...

Elisabeth loves going to Grandmère and Grandpère’s house. Grandmère has collected many fun dress ups over the years. Here Elisabeth is playing “bride.” She likes to say, “I’m getting married” and asks for the music. This is the tulle and cap from Aunt Claudia’s veil. Sometimes Grandmère even adds shoes and a white slip. I never thought my daughter would be pretending to get married so young! Elisabeth is also really enjoying classical music. I’ve been playing Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and she loves to talk about which instruments are playing. There is also a book that goes with it, and she turns the page to the correct family of instruments. And every night after she finishes eating she was to dance. This is not typical dancing music, not even a minuet or waltz. But kids can dance to anything, especially when they like to hop. So Elisabeth hops around vigorously—she especially enjoys the “noisy loud parts.” One night she got up and put her scarf on her ...