Emma turns 9!

There are certain moments that stand out in life. One of those for me was when we went for the ultrasound with our 5th child. The doctor, who happened to be the father of 6 boys and 1 girl, asked us if we wanted to know the gender of the baby..."Uh...Yeah." He asked what we had at home..."4 boys." We had already heard from the nurse before we went in that the chance of us having a girl after 4 boys was only %25. So I was expecting to complete our little basketball team with another boy. We were, after all, on a roll. I know there must have been a drum roll at this point. From the time the Dr. asked what we had at home to when he was going to announce what this one was seemed like an eternity. The words came out in slow motion as he said, "Well.......this one...........is............a...........................................................................................girl." Did I hear that right?? I let out a yell and at that moment the ceiling opened up, the heavens parted and a little ray of sunshine beamed down in that doctor's office. Emma was a surprise from the beginning as we thought we were done with our 4 cute boys. I always knew that I would have 4 boys, but a 5th child was unexpected. Brian and I had driven to the doctor's office seperately as he had come from work and I from home, so I drove home alone with this wonderful, unbelievable news floating around my head, while listening to the radio. All of a sudden a Stevie Wonder song came on that will always be our song...mine and Emma's. I felt like the following lyrics embraced how I was feeling and continue to feel about having her in my life. I, of course, immediately burst into tears. There we were: Me, Stevie, joy, sunshine and Emma in my belly, driving home to Newhall with a wonderful secret that was so deliciously sweet.

For Once In My Life

For once in my life I have someone who needs me

Someone Ive needed so long

For once, unafraid, I can go where life leads me

And somehow I know I'll be strong

For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of

Long before I knew

Someone warm like you

Would make my dreams come true

I might add that the high I experienced lasted less than a week when doubts started setting in to the point that I had to call the Dr.'s office to ask them," Uh, when Dr. G said that this one is a girl, he didn't use the words "for sure" or "definitely"...can you check my chart again?? Big pause..."Mrs. Nissen, if Dr. G wrote down girl then it's a girl." "O.k....thanks...just checking."

4 months later, we knew for sure. I think my mom refused to believe it until she saw her. Emma's middle name is Ingegard, which is actually my first name and my mom's middle name and my grandmother's first name. There aren't many girls on either side of the Nissen or Flink side of the family. They are a rare breed.

So today Emma turns 9 and it's fun to look back and think about all the ways that she has blessed our lives. She is tender hearted, feisty, energetic, loves babies, sneaks a little make-up on occasion, likes to fix her own hair, has her own fashion sense, writes sweet notes, loves to sing, loves animals, has started "baking", loves to play with friends, loves to be tucked in at night and still showers me with hugs and kisses. Oh how we love her!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, EMMA!