Red hair and blue eyes

Nearly four years after our first miraculous birth (and here), my wife and I decided to have a second child. We brought the topic up with our eldest at dinner one evening.

“Mall Diva,” (she wasn’t the Diva yet, of course), “we’ve decided to ask God for another baby.”
“Oh good, a little sister!”
“Well, no, we might ask for a little brother.”
“Too late.”
“Too late?”
“Yeah, I already asked Him for a little sister.”
“Oh, what did He say?”
“Fine!”

Well, rather than have a crisis of faith at such an early age, we decided that we would agree with her for a sister. We did have some other specifications in mind, however, so we made our list and took it God. We asked for a little girl with a sweet disposition and many of the same characteristics we’d been blessed with (without asking) in her sister. Almost as an afterthought my wife threw in, “Oh, and God, red hair and blue eyes would be really cute. Amen!” My wife then went off of the Pill and we awaited developments, which weren’t long in coming.

Over the ensuing months people would ask us if we knew what we were going to have. Our response was always, “We asked God for a girl.” Usually we’d get a response such as, “Uhhhh-huh. So, what do you think about what’s going on in the Middle East?” Suffice it to say that we seldom went on to say, “Oh yeah? Well she’s going to have red hair and blue eyes, too!”

Came the day twelve years ago (actually, nearly two weeks past her due date) our little special order was induced to appear. Sure enough, a little girl and, oh my, not just a dusting of maybe reddish-colored hair but long, thick (for a baby) carrot-bright hair! I told my wife, but she couldn’t see for herself because the nurses wrapped our daughter right up and pulled one of those little stocking caps over her head. It was a couple of hours later when things had settled down a bit and my wife had some quiet time to nurse that she decided to pull the stocking cap off and gasped. Misty-city, as a friend of mine used to say.

Have you ever felt as if God was winking at you? That was what I felt like. I “knew” in my mind that He answers prayer because of what we’d already experienced in our marriage, but this was an extra little touch at once exhilarating and humbling. The day that we had her dedicated at church I told the congregation that God had now sent me two confirmations to bolster my faith that I’d never be able to forget. I compared it to God leading the Israelites through the wilderness with a cloud by day and a fire by night – and left it to them to decide which of my daughters was which.

My cookie! My cookie! Geez, this guy’s been nothing but trouble.

Which one was the pumpkin?

And, of course, He is a God of abundance. We not only got everything we asked for in spirit and temperment (and hair and, yes, blue eyes), but even more than we could have hoped. Despite her blogging persona, Tiger Lilly has the most amazing and compassionate heart, quick to obey and eager to serve others without even thinking about it. She was strong enough to hold her head unsupported the day she was born, and stood up and started walking without fanfare – or warning to her parents – when she was ten and half months old. She’s always been curious about everything and adventurous and ready to try just about anything (except where food is concerned).