Welcome Home Stamm Family, Welcome Home

I know I wrote once that I was not sure if our house exactly suited me, but I was wrong! This house is perfect! Every day I love it more and more! It is comfortable and spacious. The large windows draw in so much natural light and that makes me smile everyday!

The layout of the house is ideal for my everyday tasks. It has simplified my life in so many ways.

2008 left us drained and begging God for simplicity. Not quite a year ago I bought a wooden sign that says "SIMPLIFY". It adorned the fireplace mantle in our apartment and now it sits on the shelf above our family room doorway. It has been a goal for our family, one that we could not have accomplished without God's help, and with much delight I can say my life feels simplified.

I am at the height of my enjoyment planning, organizing, and decorating!

Oh how wrong I was to think this house was not 100% perfect for me. How typical of God to take me to a place that is far better than I could have imagined for myself.

Another strong example of that is my life as a mother. I think pretty much my whole life my greatest dream was to be a wife, then to become a mom.

My heart broke when we found out Cayman's diagnosis when I was 20 weeks pregnant. I felt like I had fallen flat on my back and I was desperately trying to get my breath back.

I felt like my dream of motherhood was being taken away from me before I even had the chance to experience it.

I prayed like never before that Cayman would live, and she did! While I delighted in her thriving life, my heart was still broken to learn her damaged brain could severely compromise her in life. The word "vegetable" was spoken. Now, a year later, Cayman is far from a vegetable. She laughs, rolls, plays, sits, eats, smiles, babbles...she is precious!!

My dream of motherhood was not crushed. True it has not been as I drempt it would be. In many ways I am convinced it's even better!

It's actually a complicated subject to try and explain. My wish is not for Cayman to be handicap. I wish for her to enjoy all the wonderful things life has to offer . I wish for her to know love, devotion, and compassion.

A thought I have been pondering since we learned her diagnosis is, "Will Cayman be able to live life to the fullest?" My understanding of what that means has changed over the coarse of this past year. I am now convinced, "Yes, she will!" and I am completely humbled to realize that she is helping me live to the fullest too. I have learned so much in such a short time about life, happiness, and blessings. The things that I once counted as gains are nothing compared to the simple everyday miracles I experience now.

In our family room we have this picture hanging.

This quote has become a life motto to our family.

I look at it often and ask myself, which way am I living?

Perhaps, in that single poetic quote, holds the secret to living and experiencing life to its fullest.