A year ago today I was in a comfortable labor with my eighth child. I truly did not want to share my birthday with anyone so my main concern that day was taking it easy and not accelerating labor. My plan worked and I was able to do all the birthday things before labor kicked into gear late in the night. It was a beautiful time for me: just me, Baby and Jesus preparing for the arrival of a brand new soul. Before the morning sun broke through our precious baby boy was in our arms.

Emmaus has been unique from the start. In utero he had a slower heartbeat and we came to learn that it was just a sign of his calm, good natured self. People gravitate to him and he is not slow to beam a smile at them; he, in turn, looks for a smile in every face and seems confused when it’s not there. From his newborn moments he has made intense eye contact and was our youngest to smile, coo and laugh- even astounding doctors and nurses with his social maturity. It is almost as if his name is prophetic: drawing people to him so he can introduce them to Jesus.

And now we have a bubbly boy who is still a baby in most ways. He has rolls galore, only 4 teeth, crawls to his destinations or cruises along the furniture. He has been standing without holding on for a few seconds. He is quite delighted by that accomplishment. He has a choice vocabulary of a couple syllables that he speaks with great fervor: “dat!” And “a-da!” And a few others. He mimics head tilts and we make it such a fun little game.

His ready chuckle, the way he leans his head towards me for kisses, his willingness to snuggle close just because he wants to, and how he grins from ear to ear when offered a new food are all darling aspects of his dynamic personality. But what amazes me the most about this miraculous boy is that technically he shouldn’t be here. After all, he is number 8 in our family and by modern society’s standards that is far too many children for one family to have. When people count heads as we go by, they stand aghast by the number of them.

For me, though, I have no words to describe how deeply I adore that littlest head in our bunch. And I have no words to describe the gratitude I have that God chose to bless us eight times over.