We have a New Baby in our family.  Little Lexie Lee was born yesterday around 5:30pm.  We are all so excited.  Her new Great-Grandma (my aunt) reports that she weighed 7lbs. 6 oz. and is 18-1/2 inches long.  She has brown curly close-cropped hair, and blue eyes.  At not more than an hour old, she had already taken a bottle of 5 mg which was more then she was expected to have and a bottle of water.  She peed and pooped, burped and sneezed.  She was very alert and active.  She kept raising her head and using her arms to support herself.  Lexie loves to stick out her tongue.  Mom, Dad and baby are doing great.

So, the "promise" is rekindled.  The promise we all see in our children.  The promise of the future, of plans yet to unfold, of possibility, of new beginnings, of continuity with the past.  Who will she look like?  Who will she remind us of?  What is perfectly and totally, "Lexie"?  What delightful insights will she share?  What joy!

For those of you in what I call "the trenches" (the day-to-day work of being a parent) it is always good to take a moment to revisit the time when you first saw your newborn baby.  You look at your teenage boy today, hair unkempt, sloppy shirt and pants, "plugged in" and "zoned out" and easily  forget those overcoming and special feelings when he first arrived.  You worry about your middle-school child as she battles the challenges of coming of age, body image, friendships and her new interest in boys.  But the "promise" still exists.  We just lose sight of it when we are, as I say, in "the trenches".

Those precious little ones we brought into this world are on their path to being their complete adult self.  They have to go through many stages before they get there.  The best part is that we are there for the ride.  Enjoy it!  The days go by slowly but the years pass lightning fast.

Welcome to our world, little Lexie!