My birthday that I almost never had

Amee Foster
Certified Family Life Educator, Oregon
This Great Adventure Blog

This coming Monday, the 8th of April, is my 37th birthday. Yes, I am approaching the top of that hill. Yes, have a few wrinkles (mostly from laughter). And I think I may have found a gray hair last week, but I can’t be sure.

But I am going to celebrate! Why? Because it’s a miracle! I was born with a birth defect that could have been deadly had it not been found and treated. I make jokes about it all the time. “When I arrived, the package read ‘thyroid not included’.” As if I were a Christmas toy. “I’m a freak of nature!” This may be true, but not due to a missing organ.

And I can laugh about this now. I could have been delayed, I could have been a vegetable, I could have died. But I didn’t. The Lord’s timing is divine. Many studies were being done, and as a result, it became mandatory in January of 1976, to test for thyroid function in the heel stick blood tests done on infants. I arrived in April. At two months old, shortly after my 6 week checkup, just as my growth had begun to level off (not what a baby’s growth is supposed to do!), they called my parents to bring me in for more tests. It is now suggested this deficiency be found much earlier. My parents realize the little pills I needed daily WERE my thyroid, and necessary for normal growth. And so here I am, 37 years later: a happy marriage, five beautiful sons, a degree, and a great job.

It is not just my birthdays I celebrate. Every day that I take breath is a miracle. It is another day to learn, to grow. It is another day to give. It is another day to love. It is another day to do what God put me on this world to do.

This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 (NKJV)

Even if my first year had been uneventful and perfectly normal, everyday is a gift. Today I will rejoice and be glad!

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