Dear family and friends,
What a great pleasure it is to send out some wonderful news to all of
you who have given so much love and support to Danny and our family
the past four years. Danny’s nieces, Sadie Grace Owens and Sophia
Amelie Owens, were born at 2:22 and 2:23 a.m. Tuesday morning, May 5th.
The girls hadn’t been due for another month but some slight
complications caused Tricia and Andy’s doctor to schedule an emergency
C-section late Monday night to preclude any problems.
Sadie and Sophie are doing great, just under five pounds each, 16
inches long, and very very very very very cute and very very very very
sweet. Tricia had a fever and low red blood cell count Tuesday
afternoon so she was given some antibiotics and transfusions and is
doing much better. She and Andy have been calm and courageous
throughout this blessed week and Lynn and I can’t express how proud we
are of them. Sharing the same hospital room with their daughters all
week, they’ve slipped very naturally into the role of loving and
dutiful parents. They’ll be coming home later today (Friday) or
tomorrow.
Six weeks ago, Andy and Tricia moved into a house that is literally a
two-minute drive from us, so we’ll be there a lot, both to help out
and to gawk at our precious granddaughters.
You can imagine how emotional it was for Lynn and me to make an
emergency nighttime drive to a hospital again, our first hospital
visit since Danny passed. We got to the hospital Monday night at 11:30
pm. During the six hours we waited with Tricia’s dad and stepmom
before seeing the girls, we felt Danny quite strongly. Seems odd that
we go to the same places to joyfully welcome new family members and to
sadly bid goodbye to the beloved ones who pass. It’s a poignant
reminder of life’s endless cycles of joys and heartaches, blessings all.
The early arrivals of Sadie and Sophie, like so much of our past four
years, seem to have been divinely orchestrated: they will immensely
help us get through an otherwise tough month which features Lynn’s
first Mother’s Day without Danny on Sunday; the anniversary of Danny’s
passing on the 18th and his birthday on the 19th. And now we’ll have
something to celebrate every Cinco de Mayo that is way greater than an
obscure Mexican victory over the French. Of course, we all wish the
girls could have known their Uncle Danny, especially given how much he
enjoyed little kids — I can so easily envision him beaming while
holding his nieces in each arm — but I imagine they’ll feel his
presence and love in many subtle ways, just as we continue to do so.
I’ll write another update next week with some other news I want to
pass along, but wanted to let you all share in our excitement.
Much love,
Jeff
p.s. I’ve attached three photos:
• Tricia and Sophie on the birthday, May 5.
• Andy, Tricia and Sophie on May 5.
• Sadie on Thursday, May 7.
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