She's priceless

A few months ago, I was asked to write a letter to Katia's class telling why she is special to our family. I'm going to put it in my blog tonight because she's on my mind. I dropped her off at Lake Ellen on Sunday afternoon for her week of camp. Whenever the kids have gone before, they have been able to go the same week so they were always there together. Well this year, since Tyler is in the Jr. High group, his week is a week later than hers. So I had to drop my baby girl off without having her big brother there with her. And it's her first year in the backwoods or what they called North Pointe. It's super rustic outcamp about 1/3 of mile away from the main camp. There's a water pump and outhouses and cabins that are basically just a shelter. I always have a lump in my throat when I bring the kids to camp, but this year it was worse. I felt like throwing up. I guess it's the fact that I'm bringing her to this outcamp knowing how frightened she can be over just simple thunderstorm and knowing that thunderstorms are in the the forcast the entire week. It's knowing that my nine year old who still comes in my room nearly every other night because she's afraid and can't sleep is now without her parents. It's knowing that her roommates already have friends whom they brought from their hometowns and that she doesn't have anyone there that she knows. Yeah, so this mom can't stop thinking about her baby girl who's not such a baby anymore. When I stroked her hair one last time before I had to leave and asked her if she wanted me to put her hair in a pony and she acted too grownup for such things and said no- it's reality I guess. It's hard to swallow. I just can't wait to see her and hug her and will just keep praying that she's alright. Here's the letter. Keep in mind that I couldn't make it as mushy as I really felt because it would embarrass her:-)
Katia Nikole Hosking was born in Grand Rapids, MI on July 7, 1999. She is our only daughter. She has many dreams, one is to be a veterinarian and probably a ballerina too. She has a great singing voice and is often asked to sing solos during church. She is very special to us for many reasons. She is very thoughtful, loving, generous, funny, and honest. From the very day she was born, she would prove to be our "miracle girl".
When she was born, she had a spot at the end of her spine that was like a dimple. The problem was, a dimple like that could mean she would have a very serious disorder called spina bifida. Some kids can’t walk when they have this or they have to use crutches. We got our first miracle- she had a different type called spina bifida occulta. Meaning that she would be able to walk just fine and wouldn’t need to have surgery.
When she was three months old, we moved from Grand Rapids to Ford River. About a week after we moved here, she started having seizures. She would have about thirty seizures a day sometimes. She grew out of this disorder by the time she was a year and a half old and never needed any medicine for it. That was the second miracle.
The third miracle happened when she was in second grade. Katia told us that she was having a hard time seeing when she would read. We thought she just needed a pair of glasses so we took her to the eye doctor. After all the tests, the doctor said that Katia had something called glaucoma and would go blind! We took her to another doctor and he said the same thing and also said that she had lost a lot of her sight already. We asked a lot of people to pray for Katia. We found a special doctor in Lower Michigan that only worked with kids with glaucoma. Glaucoma is something that older people get, not something a seven year old girl would get so it was very rare. We went to see this special doctor downstate and our prayers were answered. Katia’s eyes are almost all better and she can see very well. The doctor said that she didn’t think Katia has Glaucoma yet, but that she only has the symptoms. That was very good news. We still have to go for checkups there, but so far so good.
So because of Katia, a lot of people believe in miracles and she definitely is one to us.