*** Happy Birthday to Robinson ***

It's never a good time for a baby to come along.  I mean, life is always happening, and babies take a lot of work, right?  The year I was pregnant for Robinson was an especially difficult year.

We were on a company move, invited to the Rock Hill, S. Carolina area by the company my husband worked for.  My mother was dying of cancer.  I was pregnant for Robbie.  The birth of Robbie would coincide with the date of the company move.  What would we do?  Would he be born here, there, or at some truck stop in-between?

And, would my mother meet him?  Or would she die long before he was born?  If she lived a bit longer, would I be in S. Carolina, having just given birth - and not even be able to make it to her funeral?

It was a terrible time for all of us, but a time of growing in great faith.  My mother was not worried about it.  She never worried.  She just prayed.  And prayed.  She told me every time I came to her "My nurse and I prayed today that Craig would find another job here.  Then you won't have to move.

"Mom, there's nothing.  Nothing."  I mean, my husband was not even really looking.  He'd half heartedly look, but our whole area was going through it's own recession.  There were five houses on our street for sale, and a few major companies had already moved out.

Eventually, we planned that he would move down there without me.  I hated that plan too, but the time was drawing near for the birth, and we hadn't sold our home.  We couldn't buy a home down there without first selling our home here.

Three weeks before the move south, he noticed a job description that he felt he might fit.  At that same time, Robinson was born early.  Just three weeks early, so he was fine.  The day my husband brought us home from the hospital, he shut himself into the office and remade his resume.  I hardly saw him that first day home.  He ran out and got us Chinese food.

Late at night, he was finished with the resume, and faxed it to the president of the company where he "might fit."  First thing in the morning, he got a call at work to come in for an interview.  Three days later he was made an offer.  We ripped the "For Sale" sign out of the ground - me, with tears in my eyes.  It was a surreal moment. 

Because my husband had stayed with the company he was leaving up until the end, he got a "stay bonus" that basically took us out of debt.  The raise he got with the new company put us in a better situation than we had known since we'd been married.  That was 11 years ago. 

There have been peaks and valleys since, but life has not been as desperate as at that time - the time God chose to send Robinson into our home.  The company that my husband went to work for folded a few years ago, and he went to work an hour away from home.

Robinson, came at a turbulant time - but it was HIS time to be born.  It made me think of Mary, riding to Bethlehem on a donkey.  Babies just come when they are ready - not when we are ready.  But it is all to God's glory.

Regardless of the timing, I was thrilled with my new baby - from the time I found out I was pregnant.  I saw all the circumstances around us as an inconvenience - not the baby.  The baby was a gift - a joy.  If only the circumstances would cooperate.

Today Robinson is a light in our home.  He has a kind, loving heart, and cares a great deal about others.  He's pretty good with math, and reads a ton.  We bought him "The Kingdom Series" for his birthday, and can't wait to do them as a read aloud.  We need to finish "Star of Light" first.

I am so glad we homeschool.  To have these "gifts" sent our way, and then put them in such a failing system as our nation's government education system makes absolutely no sense.  Robbie is a joy to have around every single day.  Happy birthday Robbie!