Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

Kearyn Jaedance is ONE!

I cannot believe that a full year has gone by since the Lord brought you into our lives. We have done our very best to soak up each and every moment - even when times have been so incredibly hard. 

Your precious smile has kept us all going - a welcome distraction from the challenges we face. 

It has been a joy to watch your brothers discover the true meaning of what it means to be a "big  brother". They continually lay down their own will and desires for you - their baby sister. At one time these boys didn't know the meaning of being gentle but now they better not dare do anything to hurt you - accident or not - as they will surely face the wrath of the other two. 

I have watched your daddy turn from this rough-tough man to a pile of goo for his baby girl. You still look so small when he holds you in his arms. And he even puts bows in your hair. 

You have changed me as well. I once thought I could only be a "boys mom" and you have shown me that I have what it takes to be a mom to you as well. You have given me that much more to live for and that much more to keep fighting for. There have been so many nights when I have just sat and stared at your precious face and that has given me the strength I have needed to press on, to fight the good fight, and to never give up. 

There are so many things about this first year that you will never know and thankfully will never remember. But you will know the love that you have been so abundantly given by so many. That you will carry with you for a lifetime. 

Thank you baby girl for being you. 


Thank you God for giving her to us. She has truly changed our lives forever. I cannot imagine living life without her. 






~Photos by Sarah B.~ 

A Month of Kearyn.....Day 3

What can you say about a little girl that I never thought I would have. I continually hear comments like "you finally got your girl" or "your dream finally came true". Neither of these statements are accurate. Jason and I did not just keep trying until we finally had a girl and I didn't lay awake at night dreaming about what it would be like to FINALLY have a little girl. I really didn't think about this at all to be honest with you. I personally think if I would have just laid around lamenting about not having a girl I would have been doing a huge injustice to my boys. God blessed me 3 wonderful boys and I celebrate that every day.

You see, I knew I always wanted four children. That had been laid on my heart long ago by the big guy upstairs. Beyond that I didn't care if I had 4 boys or 4 girls or 2 boys and 2 girls or any other combination that you can fit in there. I just wanted 4 children and I trusted God's wisdom to give me what He - and only He - knew our family needed. There is also another factor that contributed to this as well.....we have lost 5 babies due to miscarriage. After my first loss I stopped caring about whether or not I would have a boy or a girl and the desire to simply have a baby cradled in my arms only compounded with each and ever loss.

Am I glad God gave me a girl? I think the more appropriate response would be that I am grateful that God gave me Kearyn. He gave us the exact baby that needed to be in our family and she happens to be a girl. It is so amazing to think of how He so thoughtfully pieced our family together - it was like a puzzle and each of my children provided a key piece to that puzzle. Without one of them - the puzzle wouldn't be complete but together they have created a beautiful masterpiece - a reflection of Christ.

{Andrea & Kearyn ~ 5 weeks old}

A Month of Kearyn.....Day 2 (Her Name)

One of the most common questions I get about our baby girl is how do we pronounce her name..... I can imagine some of you reading this now nodding your head in agreement wanting some clarification as well. So, here it goes. I could say something like "it is pronounced just as it is spelled" and that would be about as clear as mud but it really is pronounced as it is spelled. Here is a little further explanation though so you don't send me hate mail :-) Kearyn is pronounced K-Ear-In. The "ear" part in the middle is pronounced just like your ear you hear out of - hey that rhymed and it also rhymed with Kearyn :-) But that is easy enough, right?

{Kearyn Jaedance Gressman ~ 1 day old}

How did we decide on her name? Well, there is a reason why God only gave me one girl and I am pretty sure it is because if I were to have more than one the others would have remained nameless. I have a bazillion boys names that I like but if my three boys would have been girls I have no idea to this day what I would have named them. I am just not good with the whole girl naming thing I guess.

We also set ourselves up for an even bigger challenge (you know us Gressman's - we can't make it easy) and we didn't even do it on purpose but the boys' initails are C.J, K.J, C.J., and so Kearyn also had to fit in that pattern as the next K.J. I did tell dear hubby that since she was a girl we could start all over with a new rule. We could throw caution to the wind and live on the edge by naming her something that started with a letter besides "C" or "K"  but he used his veto card and said he really wanted her to have the initials K.J. So, after looking through thousands of "K" names the only name I liked was Kearyn. It actually came from the name Kiera which I really like but it is just too popular for my taste and the name Evelyn (my great-grandmother's middle name and a name I just love.) I later did find the name Kearyn spelled like Kieran but I obviously didn't like that spelling because I didn't use it. I feel like the "ea" is so much more femanine - maybe that is because there is the "ea" in my own name :-) - I don't know.

So, there you have it.....Kear (as in your ear, rhyming with hear) yn. It is not pronounced like Karen, Karin, Caryn, Carin, Caren or any other way you can spell the name Karen although I do know some lovely ladies  out there with that name who I would not mind if my daughter shared a name with. :-)

You might be wondering about her middle name but we will save that for another discussion. After all, we have another 29 posts to go.

A Month of Kearyn.....Day 1

It is hard to believe that my baby girl is going to be ONE this month. On May 31, 2010 God blessed us with the sweetest and most precious baby girl that I could have ever asked for. She has changed each of us in such a significant way that it is painful to look back and even think of life without her. There was definitely a place in my heart that only she could fill and it was God's infinite wisdom who knew that and it was because of His divine love for us that he gave her to us to fill that void in our lives making our family complete. 

I have watched her with each of her brothers with awe and wonder. She has given them gifts that will bless not only each of them as individuals but also their future wives and children. She has taught them patients and a new kind of love. My rough and tough boys actually had to learn how to be gentle. A certain chivalry has come about each of them as they literally protect their baby sister at all cost. These are just a few things that I will talk about this month. Stay tuned to learn more about our baby girl and to help us celebrate our precious Kearyn.