Real

I recently applauded a friend for being real on her blog and writing about not just the good and the bad, but the ugly, too. It's always been difficult for me to be 'real' in my writing because I just don't think I can write like that. Or maybe I am afraid to put it all out there. And as real and open as I am about Nathan's special needs I realized recently that I have never posted 'real' pictures of him. Most are pictures of him smiling or doing something cute. I think as real as I have gotten is posting pictures of him using some of his equipment and even then his adorable face is usually the main attraction. But there is a very raw and very real side of him that we see on a daily basis that I've never really shared before in pictures. Thanks to some very good friends who have gotten real lately, I've decided to share, along with the good and the bad, the real. And real does not have to be ugly. On the contrary, real can be beautiful.
























His scars are a reminder of just how much he has endured and how far he has come. And to quote my friend Joanna, who writes beautiful words about our miracle babies on her blog,

scars are the most precious things to me -
they are a glorious statement that says -
I am alive.
I am a miracle.
God made me.
And I am wonderfully made.

And a Psalm that I have leaned on since Nathan was still growing in my tummy,

"I praise you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
Psalms 139:14

Oh yes, real can be beautiful. And the beauty of our little boy, the joy he holds and the way he makes my heart want to burst with love is so very, very real.