Lucas Camilo

Today is the last day of 2009, a year that we’ll never forgot.  A lot of amazing things happened in our lives in 2009, from witnessing the victory of the FMLN in El Salvador to throwing a commitment ceremony in Washington DC.  Of course, August 17 will go down as the most amazing moment of the year: the day Lucas Camilo arrived in our lives two months before we had planned.  During that first week of his life things didn’t look so good, and we were grateful to be surrounded by family and good friends as Lucas struggled to survive.  We thought we’d include a picture from one of his first days in the world to show just how far Lucas has come.  (Don’t worry, we’ve got some more pictures at the end of this post that are much more uplifting.)

Lucas on Aug. 18, day 3 of life

The birth of your own child is a mind-boggling, life-changing experience.  When your child is born and doesn’t breath or move, and doctors tell you might have to starting thinking about “ethical choices”, the grief is indescribable.  And then he begins to get better, and it’s exhilarating.  Over the past 4 1/2 months we’ve been through more with Lucas than we could have ever imagined, and each day that we wake up and see him wiggling in his crib is a blessing.  Two days ago Burke got hit with a fever (probably the flu) and had to quarantine himself until he felt better today.  Moments like this, when we’re not able to hold or interact with Lucas for extended periods of time, reinforce how strong the love and attachment we feel towards him really is.

Of course, as we often remark on this blog, there are many more challenges ahead.  Lucas’s health is improving, and he has come so far since the days when that picture was taken.  And yet, at times his progress feels painstakingly slow.  We still don’t know what to expect 6 months or a year from now, and yet we feel well prepared for whatever comes.  We can’t wait to see Lucas continue to grow and develop, accomplish new feats, make new friends, and further explore – with his characteristic wonder – the world around him.

We thank everyone for following Lucas’s story and for sending so much love and support our way since Lucas was born.  We wish you the best in the new year and hope that you keep in touch and keep following the blog.

Oh yeah, and here’s those pictures we promised from the past month:

and something else we promised in a post a few days back is a list of the organizations that we chose to support this year, in part as a form of gratitude for all the support we’ve received.  So here it is, with links to the respective websites.