Samuel's Special Day

Spectacular Spiderman Cake!

Today is Samuel's special day. Samuel is now four years old! We celebrated last night with Spiderman Cake and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream while Brad was back in town, a gift in itself! Sam was pleased to wear his new St. Louis Cardinal t-shirt with his favorite player’s number, #23 – David Freese, while playing catch with his new baseball glove and wiffle balls.  Spiderman PJs and a Lightening McQueen shirt rounded off the night.  He was so happy!  Oh...to be four again, you know?!  It was a great night.

Each child has a unique story. Sam is no different. All our children are miracles, but Sam is even more so to me. We knew we wanted another little blessing from God and had it all planned out. Our other three pregnancies were aided with some low dosage fertility medication. All three very planned out. Baby #4 would be no different. We were in control, right? Our niece was going to be born early December and we wanted to wait so she could just be the center of our family’s affections. We wanted to get through the school year and into the summer so if I had any complications the first trimester as in previous pregnancies then it would be during our summer break. I had an appointment all set up in January to discuss our plan with our Dr. and so we went through the holidays enjoying the time with our families and meeting our new niece. We were praying about our family and adding a special baby but in the context of our plan for our family.

Right before Christmas I just didn’t feel right and even told Brad I thought I was pregnant. He laughed me out of town!!  There was no way that could happen to us he told me.  Well, a few days later I took a test and guess what?  We were expecting.  We were amazed at what God had done for us with no help from anyone but God!  He loves to give good gifts to his children.  What a Christmas present that year! We were reminded again of who is in control and once again....it wasn't us. So the first of January instead of talking to the Dr. about a plan for another baby, I went for blood work and our prenatal care visits started. 


I remember singing in the Christmas program early in December that year wearing a black maternity top since it was the only black top I had and the dress code was all black. How funny to think back that I was wearing a maternity top but was unaware I was expecting! God has humor I’m telling you.

His eyes say it all!

Samuel's name has special meaning and kind of tells his story.  Samuel comes from the Old Testament account of Hannah and her desire for a child.  I love this story and can relate to her deep yearning to be a mama.  I can imagine the urgency and deep desire flooding through her fervent prayers to God as she prayed for a child. When we first decided we were ready to have a family, we prayed for a child and it was several years before we realized we had to have fertility medication and were able to have Neil. Each of our pregnancies was a higher risk due to various complications and usually it required some bed rest along the way. We prayed a lot before, during, and even now for each child.  Hannah's story was one I could relate to and I love how the Bible has special meaning for the names given a child.  God heard Hannah's prayers and gave her a son, Samuel.  Samuel means, God heard. God heard our prayers for a child just as He did Hannah's prayers, and in His own special way, He blessed us with our Samuel in His timing and in His plan for our family. I have to admit, it was much better than our ol' plan anyway! The Isaac part came from the story of Abraham and Sarah when God told them they were going to have a baby. Sarah laughed…just like Brad did when I first told him I thought we were expecting. So we put those names together and waited for our Samuel Isaac to arrive.

Samuel Isaac Ferris
August 11, 2008

Fast forward to present time....Samuel is such a blessing! He brings a lot of laughter to our home! At dinner last night he was pumped up about presents and was so excited he couldn't get the words out when he talked.  He looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm ready to eat my presents now!"  He stopped just a second and we all started howling.  He takes his little hand and lightly bonks his forehead and says, "No, I mean I'm ready to OPEN my presents now!"  I'm telling you all that life without him would be dull.    These last four years have been a gift. I look forward to many more birthdays with our little guy!  Celebrating Samuel's special day today with gratefulness for God's gift to our family!