My little girl is nine. Where, oh where has the time gone? Nine feels so big for some reason. In another nine years, our daughter will be an adult by legal standards. She will likely fly from the nest that year, be off to college and other adventures. I know that as their parents, our goal is for our children to grow and learn, and become adults eventually, but sometimes life feels like it flies by so fast.
We conceived Abigail after almost a year and a half of trying, actually during some fertility tests, a round of which my doctor was conducting to see if there were any measurable “reasons” we had not yet gotten pregnant. During those months we asked a lot of “What if?” questions. What if we never got pregnant? What would we do then? And our answer without hesitation was that God willing, we would most certainly pursue adoption. We desperately wanted children, and a family of our own. After what seemed like forever, but wasn’t actually all that long relatively speaking, we got that positive pregnancy test, and to say we were elated is an understatement. How completely surprised, how excited Jay and I were at the thought of a little Horne arriving to join our family.
I still remember the day of my sonogram so vividly, the day we were to learn whether this little Horne was a boy or a girl. Though I honestly did not care too much about gender, so thankful was I that we actually had a little baby on the way, I had pretty much assumed we would only have boys. I had learned the scientific fact that the father is responsible for determining the gender of the child (see here for a little biology lesson on the topic), and I had done a little family research and learned there were no girls for several generations directly back in Jay’s, his Dad’s, or (I think) even his Dad’s Dad’s generation. His only brother was at that time father to two boys himself (neither we nor they knew that was about to change!). Of course, being the highly trained scientist that I am, I extrapolated and came up with my own theory: that we were not likely to bring any daughters into this world. I was actually pretty convinced of this! So, when the nurse performing my sonogram announced to us that there was indeed a baby girl hanging out in my tummy, my very surprised squeals of joy could be heard all the way back to the waiting room (so they told me). I was ecstatic, and could not wait to meet this little lady of ours.
From the time she was born, Abigail, true to her name, has been a joy to us. I feel as if we were given a very special gift the day God placed her into our care. She is a delight, a sweet, kind and mostly very patient big sister to her three crazy little brothers, an encouragement to her Mom and Dad. She cares tenderly for all the little animals and creatures she comes into contact with, is a loyal friend, and has an air about her that is far older than even her big nine years. It is such a blessing to have another girl in the family besides myself!!
Throughout our next pregnancies, I never again remembered my very false assumptions about children’s gender. And secretly, I sort of wished for another girl to join our family, but that has never happened. Even the little baby whom we lost before ever having the chance to meet him is a boy, whom we someday look forward to seeing face to face in Heaven.
Abigail’s special day took place on Saturday, and her treat was going out with Mommy to have her ears pierced. Afterward, we celebrated with some family in town over pizza, cake, and presents, and it was a wonderful evening.
I am so thankful for our precious girl, our only daughter, our Abigail, our joy. I pray she may grow in grace, in her love for Christ and the people around her, and that she may always know just how deeply her family loves her.
