Genevieve C. West

Apparently, blood really is 4x thicker than water.  But I think science is the only place where that's true. Eric and I met when Evie was two years old and we were married when she was five.  But you'd never guess it. In fact, Evie doesn't even know! God's sense of humor and planning of this adoptive relationship is even evident in how similar they are in personality and even in physical appearance!  Most importantly, you would not be able to differentiate between how Eric treats Evie and how he treats his biological spawn. Eric's love for Evie, and Evie's love for Eric, is proof that blood relations have little to do with the strength or bond of family. When we were growing up, whenever Dad did or said something especially embarrassing, he would jokingly say, "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family!"  But I think Dad was dangerously wrong.  I spent too many years putting up with too much crap fr

I love our baby-in-utero just as much as we love our little one that we lost last July. But the grief from losing the baby we were supposed to meet last March has been getting in the way of being excited about the one we'll meet in October. So... We named her.  Ellie, short for Eleanor Anne.  And Evie and I took inventory of all our old baby gear. Then Eric and I went to Target to do a baby registry .  That lasted maybe 15 minutes. I realized later that I steered clear of all the cute baby clothes and stuck to the essentials: diapers, wipes, butt paste. I think I just didn't want to imagine Ellie in tiny little socks until I see those little feet kicking for myself.   I don't think the problem is that I'm not excited about Ellie. I think the problem is that I haven't mourned for our baby who died. At first it was hard imagining even having a baby shower for Ellie. It felt wrong to celebrate a new life when I haven't even