New Year Baby

Baby Natalie was born on January 1st!

January 17, 2015

Tahna and Spencer welcomed their first child into the world at 1:30 a.m. on January 1st, just an hour and a half after New Year's Eve's midnight. That made her the first baby born in the local hospital of our small community. Which meant tiny Natalie got her picture in the local newspaper!

Tahna feels blessed that they made it to the hospital in time. When her labor started, it was so light that she didn't even think about heading to the hospital yet, even though their town is a 30-minute drive from the hospital--and even though a major snowstorm had struck our mountain and made driving conditions dangerous. Fortunately, her water broke soon after and she knew then it was time to go.

The drive to the hospital took 20 minutes longer than usual, thanks to the storm, but they arrived safely and sweet Natalie was born 3 hours later.

16-day-old Natalie and her mommy, Tahna.

Sarah and I had some business in their town on Saturday, so we took the opportunity to stop by and visit mother and baby for an hour. How precious is that tiny baby girl!

Tahna is a younger sister of my sister-in-law Dana, but our connection goes a bit deeper than that. In some ways, it's almost cosmic! First, my daughter Sarah went to high school with Tahna, who became one of Sarah's closest friends, which continues to this day. Second, Sarah and Tahna and their other good friend Emmi were all married within one month's time of each other in the summer of 2011. And both Tahna and Emmi served as bridesmaids for Sarah.

Here comes the cosmic part: I used to have a TracPhone five or six years ago, and when I switched phones I got a new phone number. A short time later, my son Jacob accidentally tried to call me on my old phone number. He was surprised when Tahna answered. When she got a new cell phone, she was given my old number! What are the odds?

One final cosmic coincidence: my daughter-in-law's family was renting a house when Danielle and Jacob met and fell in love. One month before the wedding, the owners of the home told Danielle's family that they had decided to sell the house, so they'd have to move out in a month. That presented quite a hardship to their family, since during that month Danielle's brother Stirling was returning from his mission, their sister Jordan was graduating from high school, and Danielle was getting married! They managed to stay in the house for another month or so, which coincided with a job change for Danielle's father. Their family now lives in Utah.

What does this have to do with Tahna? Well, she and Spencer bought the house where Danielle's family had been living! Tahna told us the house was a godsend for them, and the timing was just right. Funny how God always makes everything work out for everyone, always in His own way and in His own time. However, I admit it was a bit surreal to walk into Tahna's new home, when on my previous visits there it had been filled with Danielle's family!

Sarah enjoys some quality time with Natalie.

We enjoyed a wonderful visit, and it was a joy to hold that tiny bundle of sweetness. We'll have to do it again sometime soon!