My sister Paula is about 15 weeks along now, and I learned something that changed my world. Already, her baby has fingerprints!

Already, only fifteen weeks along in life, the is a total, complete individual. Never in the history of Man has there been another like him! He is special, precious, and growing by every minute of every day....and already he is a totally unique little human being. Never before, and never again, will there be another!

I've had the incredible opportunity to become MeMe to three beautiful grandchildren. My experience with each was different through pregnancy, ending with the priceless chance to be in the room when Adam was born. They are all precious to me and are absolutely individuals too. My brother Andy and wife Jess live in Indiana and I love regular updates and pictures of my niece Anna. I wouldn't trade one minute of time or chance at experience to have watched them grow and change, to learn their own minds and what they can do.

This child though, seems to be hitting me in a different way. This time Paula has invited me to be with her for every doctor's appointment and I'm seeing it in a different perspective. I've enjoyed watching the progress, learning what's happening each week, and going from 'peanut' to 'lime' to 'shrimp' to our current 'lemon' status. Hearing the heartbeat for the first time was a miracle. I can't believe he can grasp, grimace, and even suck his thumb! And NOW....I find out he already has fingerprints!! Surely no Aunt was ever so proud. (grinning)

By the way, it's a he. :-) We won't know officially for another month (assuming the ultrasound at that point will cooperate) but I just know somehow. I've seen the baby as a boy literally since the first moment I knew she was expecting. I was right for the three grandchildren so we'll see whether I'm 4 for 4.

Regardless, he or she has fingerprints! A tiny, beautiful, total little person unique in the universe...our own little miracle.

Dark Side of the Sun

An image never seen before in the history of mankind.... the dark side of our Sun. Or, at least as someone in the news said, as dark as a huge flaming ball of gas could possibly be. What an amazing place in the universe we've been given.

We can rebuild it. We have the technology.

I'm surely not the first person to draw this connection, but it's been floating around in my head all day.

America is our Steve Austin. Our very nation is at a turning point....we are dying, crippled by the economy, shamed in the eyes of the world that used to look up to us, and overwhelmed by the collective loss of our pride and hope. Our Lady of Liberty is no longer proud. Our country's life is slowing draining away just like Steve Austin.

We can rebuild it. We have the Technology.

Today, THIS day, we began to rebuild our country with a new president who understands Technology. Never before, in the history of our earth, has there been a transition of power which reached out to grasp individuals in such a way. I believe that Obama wasn't entirely elected because of the obvious...not because he's partially African American, or young, or eloquent when speaking, or enthusiastic and full of ideas. I believe he was elected because he INVOLVED his public. For the first time, a candidate harnessed the power of the new technology to touch the young people of this country in THEIR way....through their technology. I'm certainly not the first person to be saying this, but it home to me today as I watched his first day in office unfold. Our global community will never, ever, be the same. Spend one day in a school and you will see that to our young people, technology IS their lives. That genie is out of the bottle now, and Obama has tapped it.

We CAN rebuild this country. We DO have the Technology.

Whether you were for or against him, whether you voted for him or not, whether you even LIKE him or not.....he's ours now. All of ours. It may come as quite a shock to many of you that know me, because I don't normally proclaim how I vote in elections feeling is usually comes to a fight eventually....but I voted for Obama. Not because he's black, or young, or energetic, but because I saw him in what I felt was sincere potential for a change. I came to that realization after a long time of soul-searching, probably the most difficult that I can remember in my years of voting. I gave him my sacred responsibility, to vote as an American, because he has potential to look farther than before, embracing the Technology which will in turn embrace a nation. I will pray, and hope I was a tiny little teeny part of The Rebuilding.

Listening to the Lime

The most amazing thing happened yesterday...I listened to a Lime!

My most favorite sister, Paula, is going to have a baby in July to the great joy of everyone in the family. I consider it a priceless gift that she loves and trusts me to be a part of the process. I've been to all of her first doctor's appointments and we were looking forward to yesterday because it was expected to be the first check for a heartbeat! Paula had been calling the baby 'peanut' because that's how big the growing fetus was, then last week it was described in her books as a kumquat. As we pulled into the parking lot, she said "hey, the books say it's the size of a lime now!" So... we were headed in to listen to Our Lime.

The doctor swoops in, calmly applies the gel, and we all tense and listen. Nothing. Lots of static, lots of moving the doppler wand around. Still nothing. I've never had children and this is my first experience trying to hear the heartbeat, so I'm trying to 'make' a rhythm out of the static. I'm tensed, hiding out of the way behind the table, holding my breath, and then WOOOOOOOWW! A heartbeat! There, clear as a bell, beating away with a precious life of it's own, was The Lime! My breath caught in my throat and tears sprang to my eyes. There, growing by the day, was a tiny, perfect little heart hidden in a body the size of my palm, already doing the job it will do every day of it's life. What a miracle.

In the picture above, the kumquat sits at the bottom left corner, and the lime next to it. Perhaps next week it'll be the kiwi at the top? The starfruit.....well, let's hope that's just a hello from Uncle Steve and his backyard in Hawaii!!

As Paula left, she quipped "Hey, it's hard work making a heart!" My dear, beloved sister and her darling child to which I'll be Aunt Kimmee.....and I was there to witness it's first sounds of communication with it's life to come. What a priceless gift.