I knew it when she was born.  I knew it when she first smiled at me.  I knew it when she first told me she loved me.

I knew it when she first told God she loved Him.

She is a blessing.  She has made my life so much better.  She has made me so much better.  I can’t imagine the horror that would be life without her.

And she proved this 100 times over, just the other day.

Storytime:

We had just arrived at a vacant house whilst in the middle of our house search.  The children were not only well-behaved, but down-right thrilled each time we entered a deserted playground, er, I mean house.  They would burst through the front door and continue running and shrieking and enjoying themselves until we ushered them back out the front door.

So we didn’t even bother to stop them when they began their empty-house ritual at this particular stop.  We just smiled, let them go crazy, and turned our attention to the realtor’s description of the various attributes this house had to offer.

But a mommy’s brain can never, truly, be shut off from the goings-on of her children.  And in the background, I heard Olivia, her voice tense.  I looked up and saw her pushing Benjamin.  I headed over, intent to scold, when I caught a bit of her words.

“No, baby.  No stairs.”

They were standing in front of an open doorway.  As I rounded the corner, I saw it was the door to the basement.   Benjamin was inches from the hard, steep staircase leading to the basement.

And Olivia was using all her two-year-old strength to pull him away.