While going through life, there are some things that change your path forever. It could be a death; it could be a marriage; or it could be a birth.

As a mom, I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that one little birth will change the course of your life forever.

My first-born daughter was only 13 months old when I found out that I was pregnant with my second child. At this point in my life it had been 13 months since I had slept a full three hours straight, and that is no stretch of the truth. I was speechless, to say the least, when I discovered that I was going to have another child.

Instead of the excitement of the first pregnancy, it was worry and fear more than anything. The first things to run through my mind were thoughts like: “How can I love another kid the way I love Raygan?” “How can we afford another mouth to feed?” “Where are we going to put another child?”

Needless to say, I had mixed emotions on that Easter morning when I found out the news.

It is now four years past that day and although I still have fear sometimes, my thought patterns have completely changed. Instead of worrying if I can love another child like I loved my first, I wonder how in this world I lived without my youngest bundle of joy, Anna.

At her fourth birthday party this past weekend I looked around the room at the friends and family who had come to help us celebrate her life, and realized that it really does take a village to raise a child.

Anna was born during hard times around my house. She was only 2 when her daddy and I got divorced, and things always seem crazy for families during these times. But Anna never wavered in her smiles and joy. She is the picture of a happy child.

She has more attitude than any one child should ever be able to contain, but it is clear that she loves with her whole heart.

It’s so funny how you can go from wondering what God is thinking by allowing another baby to be born to a crazy family, to wondering how in this world we ever laughed without that baby in our lives. Although we may think we have our lives all figured out, there are always going to be curve balls thrown at us.

My pregnancy with Anna was quite the curve ball, but I wouldn’t change a thing if I had it to do over again. She was the light in our home on many occasions, and Raygan needed a little sister to play with and boss around while life was in a blender at times.

God knows what He is doing, even when we can’t see the end results. This was never more clear than as I sat at a Hello Kitty birthday party surrounded by pink hats and screaming kids while singing happy birthday to one of my favorite little people in the world.

I now thank God for that Easter morning when He saw fit to throw a wrench in my wheel of life. So don’t get down or discouraged when things don’t go as you plan. Choose to keep an open heart and eventually you will see the good in them. It only took a second for me to know this was a gift and not a burden.