Zoe at 161

I know there's a few of you out there who have kept up with us and Zoe for all 161 days, so when I write that Robbie Seay wrote me last night to ask how Zoe was doing, and that Your Favorite Baseball Player Chris Sampson's wife txted me last night...I don't have to explain. That I'm going to see Ironman Hennessey next weekend.

Or just to tell you that Zoe is now 8 pounds, 15 ounces of chunkatude and has actually hit - and by hit we mean made the very lowest echelon of, but still hit - the healthy kids chart of growth and development (somewhere there is a healthy kid who is 23 inches and 8 pounds and 15 ounces. He or she might not be 161 days old.)

Could anything surprise you? Me either. I fed Zoe much of last night and she's now developed a scraping claw move that means, look...you better feed me the bottle or I'm going to dig a hole in your skin and pull the arm tendons my ownself to move your bottle arm. 8 pounds of attitude. But does that surprise you? How about that she's breathing this morning at all?

How about the Australian contingent of this blog's readership? Or the extensive Canadian audience? The Texans commenting loud and proud? How about this: Cecil Cooper, former Milwaukee Brewer, is now the manager of the Astros. Surprising? Me either.

161 days has a way of beating surprise out of you. This story is longer than we thought. But it's a pretty good story. And now I'm wondering, cautiously: the doctors told me 159 days ago how the story was going to end. They gave us the lethal diagnosis. I don't doubt that my daughter has full, non-mosaic Trisomy 18. But could there be another 161 days? Would you be surprised?

(Wait...I did think of something surprising: did you know that those Ironman people swim over 2 miles, then bike over 150 miles, then run a marathon? I mistakenly called them triathletes. They're cyborgs. Just our guy is driven by a mission.)

Eternal God
by Robbie Seay Band

Forever, forever
You have been my home
Patience, patience
You've got all the time in the world
So we are more than blades of grass
Distant dreams fading fast
How long will You have us wait
We will wait on You

These days are fleeting
And life is hard
God eternal
Come back to us
And with the sun bring surprising love
To this day of eternal God