Happy 4th Liverday & Welcome Maya

Shayna had another amazing year and we had another wonderful party to celebrate her second life.  Her favorite thing about this year was Maya Lynn.  Shayna had been asking me when Aba and I would "get married again" so we can have another baby and she could have a baby sister.  Since this year brought the blessing of Maya Lynn and Liverday is about our family getting a second chance to be whole, we celebrated Shayna's health and welcomed Maya Lynn to the world.

Shayna continues to astound us with her vivacity, joy, unique intelligent, compassion, and health.  We have had one of the best years health wise for Shayna.  Her lab values have been fantastic all year and we've seen the doctor so little it makes me nervous, happy but nervous still.  She loves to tell stories and make up songs for us.  She gets along with everyone she meets and is amazingly friendly wherever we go.  One of my favorite things now is watching her play make-believe with her friends.  We have at least one play date a week and she and her friends always come up with new adventures to act out about heroic fairies, princesses, or fairy princesses.  The other is watching her sing her made-up songs to Maya, which Maya adores.

Maya Lynn was born on October 6, 2013 at 11:04pm weighing 9lbs3oz and being at least 21" long.  (She never fit into newborn clothes so we know for sure the official measurement of 20" was too short.)  Her name honors two great-grandmothers.  Nahum's maternal grandmother was Margareta so the name Maya honors her.  Patricia's maternal grandmother was Carolyn but went by Lynn.  Both women were very strong minded, intelligent women who fearlessly stood up for what they believed in.  Lynn raised two very young daughters alone after her husband passed away when the oldest was seven and throughout it all was a strong-voiced, community leader making sure her girls would continue to have a better world.  Margareta's conviction and strength was test more.  She was named one of the Righteous Among the Nations for her work in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II.  While we hope Maya's life will be easier than both her ancestors, we also hope that she may have their strength of character and conviction in all she pursues and does.