Last week* we celebrated Rose’s third birthday! It’s hard to believe our littlest rascal is three years old. She is fierce and hilarious, affectionate, stubborn, joyous, creative, and so much fun. She is our cuddle bug, always trying to get me to stay by her side after bedtime by asking for more cuddles. (Which obviously works very well!) She loves music and dancing and princesses and chocolate and, of course, Justin Beaver. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up she answers, “A Dad! And a firefighter!”
Rose is our reminder that we are still learning and have so much yet to learn as parents. Our girls are similar in a lot of ways and different in a lot of ways. Rose has warranted about three times the number of calls to 811 than her big sister and all of our “accident” stories from this summer involve Rose. (811 is the provincial non-emergency nurse’s hotline. It’s the number you call when you’re not sure if you need in person medical care.)
Rose is a pure blessing in our family’s life. She is a greater answer to prayer than we ever imagined. One of the verses I often prayed over when I was pregnant with Rose was 1 Samuel 1:27:
“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.”
My pregnancy and birth experience with Rose were almost entirely unremarkable. I carried her for almost 39 weeks and I delivered her naturally, as so many women have before me. For me though, after two miscarriages, a difficult health diagnosis while pregnant with Pearl, and an unplanned c-section to deliver Pearl, that very ordinariness feels nothing short of miraculous when I think back over Rose’s birth. I love my girls dearly and I am grateful for the ways they arrived to us but Rose’s birth was one of the most empowering experiences of my life and I’m thankful that I got to go through that. There is a passage in the book of Revelation that I envisioned and prayed while in labour with Rose and that has remained something I pray over her life:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city… No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city and his servants will serve hi. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Revelation 22:1-2, 3-4
And, of course, there is the Bible verse that, while we didn’t name our Rose for, contains her name in some translations:
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
Isaiah 35:1
This is how I see my girl – our beautiful rose who bloomed in a dark place. She is bright and strong and I hope that she always brings beauty and light with her in all the places she might go.
(*Due to COVID, we’ve actually been celebrating Rose’s birthday for the entire month of September and into the beginning of October. Since we couldn’t have a party for her, we had a few smaller get togethers with family as well as our own day of celebration. In total, Rose got four birthday cakes.)
Karissa Reads Books 
Four birthday cakes!!! I’m seriously jealous! Happy birthday to Rose – can’t believe she’s three already. š
I am so tired of making cakes! My poor husband has a birthday this week but he’s getting a pie!
Happy birthday to Rose! Four birthday cakes sounds pretty awesome! š
Definitely a perk of covid!
That Justin Beaver is loved in this world still makes me dearly happy. Thank you for sharing the story about Rose. I’m surprised that you had a C-section with Pearl and then a natural birth with Rose. In the U.S., it seems like doctors don’t even want to talk about that as an option.
Justin Beaver is still very adored! Pearl brought home a “book” she made at school and it featured several stuffs, including Justin!
I was really fortunate with Rose’s birth to be able to try for a natural birth. A few things aligned, including the fact that she came a few days earlier than the date they’d set for me to have a c-section on. But mostly I was fortunate to have a doctor who was willing to let me try and an OB who deemed it possible.