I was just reviewing past posts and had to laugh at my open ended speculation about "Perhaps"… "Perhaps we’ll have a fourth."  I wrote those fateful words in February.  Jim and I had agreed to remain open to a fourth but to wait until our economic picture had improved.  God must be hard of hearing or have a sense of humor because he skipped the whole "if" and "when"  statement and four months later we were surprised by number four.

I am now two weeks away from the due date and we are so eager to meet the new member of our family. Will he have black hair like his mommy? Curly hair like Javier? Will he have the O’Malley cleft? We are all very excited to meet him. 

At first we thought we’d call him Luis Enrique. Jim liked the name and I thought it was appropriate seeing as he might be born on his grandmother "Louise" birthday.  Another runner up in the naming game was Alejandro do differentiate from Alexandra his cousin. Now we are more partial to Asier, meaning "Beginning" in Basque. 

Jim and I do feel like we are embarking on a new beginning.  Though 2006 was a rough year in our economy and the business dropped dramatically we have been chugging along, up beat with a new sense of purpose and control.  In a way I think it comes down to the moment when Perhaps became Reality.  In a split second you have to choose and embrace what your reaction is going to be:  We had already been moving towards improving our quality of life. Reality knocked on our door and surprised us and we responded, "today is as good a day as any, we are glad to have you."

Jim and I both know there is nowhere to go but on to "victory."  We have been down and out and the only thing that made our life worth living was each other and our wonderful little family.  Now, we fear not the difficult times and have embraced a new beginning.  Our active realization and choice to welcome this new beginning I believe has given us a recent "high" a natural motivational boost.

 Over Christmas, Jim dusted off his woodworking talent and built me two beautiful book cases as a birthday/Christmas gift. It is now the first time in 10 years I see most of my books decorating my home.  The sight gives me such warmth and peace.  We have thrown out and given to the Salvation Army half a conex of memories.  Clothes from college that I had not worn in 8 years or more, papers, letters, shoes,… the list goes on… Jim touched up the oven and fridge, and is currently building new shelves for the kids room and medicine cabinets for our bathroom.  All in addition to both working full time.

Perhaps became a Reality and I cannot be happier about our New Beginning.