My Little Miracle

When my older brother was a baby, my parents bought a jumper for him.  It was one of those slings with that would hang either from a doorway, or by a hook from the ceiling with a spring.  He was a very high energy child, and he was able to burn a lot of his energy in the jumper.  We have a few family stories about him spinning a hook right out of the ceiling from jumping around so much.  My uncle would play cards right in front of him, and he would jump forwards and back and scatter the cards.  That jumper lasted through 7 kids, and is still in great shape.  Many families think that a swing is a necessity for a baby.  In our family, it's a jumper.

My niece in the "antique" jumper.

Allen is the oldest of the grandkids on my side.  He needed constant attention as a baby, and my mom suggested a jumper for him.  She allowed me to borrow her original jumper, but she also realized that she had one jumper, and 7 kids who would want it, and so we began looking for a few more jumpers to add to the collection.

We found one called the Bungee Baby Bouncer, that was close.  My mom bought 3 of them.  They have been passed around the family.  My sister had twins, and she was able to do many hours of laundry while the babies were in the jumpers.

I couldn't find a picture of Makenzie in the jumper, so I just threw in one of my favorite baby pictures.  :)

Morgan was probably a little too young for the jumper at this point.

Each of my kids really loved it. 

This weekend, Hubby and I had our annual "Clean out the garage" day.  Last year, as we had gone through things we had made two stacks of boxes.  We gave some of our baby clothes away to friends and family, but the majority of them were going to be sent to charity.  We were able to fit half of the boxes in the car, but we never did make a second trip last year.  This year as we were cleaning, we loaded up the car with all the boxes from last year.  I decided not to go through them.  I really hate the idea of not having any more kids, but I also know that that is just the way it has to be now.  Last year, as I went through the boxes, it was really hard to say good-bye to all the clothes my kids had worn, and my hopes of having another baby.

As we were going through things, I found the bar and spring loaded clamp to the jumper.  I put it aside with a pile of stuff I need to take to my mom.  When we finished the garage, I realized that we never found the sling that goes with the jumper.  Then I remembered that I had packed it in with some of the baby clothes, thinking I would go through the boxes before I gave them away.  It had been dropped off with all the rest of our stuff.  I was sick.  I realized that there was no way I would ever find it again.  The place where we dropped off the boxes of clothes gets tons of donations every day.  I tried to be satisfied that I still had the most complicated piece of the jumper.  My mom is an amazing seamstress, and I tried to convince myself that we would be able to come up with something that would work, but every time I saw that bar it made me sick to my stomach.

Today, I went out to the car to take Morgan to Kindergarten.  As I helped him into his seat, something under the seat caught my eye.  It was the sling to the jumper. 

We had at least 20 boxes of stuff in the car.  Nothing tipped over or spilled.  The only thing from those 20 boxes that is left in the car is that sling.  There is absolutely no logical explanation for why it is still in there.  I actually called Hubby to see if he had seen it in the box, and taken it out.  He was just as flabbergasted as I am.  It is definitely a small thing, but it is my little miracle.  It is little things like this that constantly remind me that God knows who I am, and he knows the little things I need.  He loves me, and although he allows me to suffer and have pain (I could never grow or learn if he didn't) he is there for me, and cares for me, and encourages me.

I'm very grateful for the little miracles in my life.