Celebrating Life Our Way

"You teach me the way of life. In your presence is total celebration. Beautiful things are always in your right hand." Psalm 16:11

What things or events do you celebrate? Do you celebrate the big milestones such as birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries? Is there anything else you celebrate? Growing up a Leininger, we seemed to celebrate everything. We were always getting together for something. So, celebrations were nothing new to me. Mark had to adjust to all our family get togethers, which wasn’t an easy feat for him. Over the years there has been various events and milestones Mark and I have celebrated. We have celebrated the obvious birthdays and anniversaries, but we have also celebrated a lot of things many may overlook.

When Bailee was born at 26 weeks, we were told her chances of survival were less than 50%. We never let the statistics get in our heads. In fact, every time she hit a milestone weight, we celebrated by bringing a cake for the NICU staff. We celebrated her two-, three-, and four-pound weight achievements. We also brought in treats for the staff over the holidays. When Bailee was discharged from the NICU after 11 weeks, we celebrated with a family get together at our home. A few weeks later, we celebrated with my Golden Acres Family and anyone in the community who wanted to see our miracle. I think Bailee enjoys celebrations so much because she was celebrated so much as a baby.

When Kalli was born at 27 weeks, we were not given any statistics or odds on her survival. We unfortunately were not new to the whole NICU experience. Since she was born in Minneapolis, the NICU was so much bigger than Bismarck and therefore, the staffing numbers were greater. We quietly celebrated Kalli's milestones with each other. Every milestone she hit for weight, vent settings, reduction in medications, amount of her feedings, etc., Mark and I would go out to eat at a nice restaurant together. We also celebrated with her primary nurse a couple of times by meeting up with her off hours. Kalli didn't get the homecoming party like Bailee because she was so medically complicated and susceptible to illnesses. We soon learned that her susceptibility wasn't going to stop us from doing things we loved. So, Kalli got in lots of celebrations even after her homecoming. We did have a big party for her prior and after her tracheostomy reversal since it was another big milestone with another long hospitalization.

Now days we celebrate even more. We added Mark's sobriety date and we added our vow renewal date into the mix. We also celebrate family and friendships. Most recently we had Kaydence and Lindsey come to the lake and Kaydence spent the night. That was a way to celebrate both Kalli and Kaydence after their recent accident. They will hopefully both be returning in a week or so for some more celebration.

Not so long ago, I didn't feel there was much to celebrate. I went through the motions for my kids and tried my best to hide how I truly felt. I robbed myself and my family of so much. Mark robbed us of so much. Alcohol robbed us of so much. We are so proud to truly celebrate and do so without feeling the need to do so with alcohol. Our lives are better for it. Our family is better for it. We realize that even though we can't go back and change the past, we can change ourselves today. Every day we can start fresh and do better, be better. Although we chose this, we realize others may not feel the same way and that is ok. We are only trying to change ourselves and if we influence someone else for the better, well great! If we don't, well that is alright too. We know that God is on our side and guiding us to bigger and better things.

So, if you need an excuse to get together and celebrate, do it. Make something up if you must. We both realize that life is short and often fragile. We have learned that the little things often turn out to be the big things in life. We have learned celebrating even the smallest of things is so worth it. We have had more cakes this past year than we have in the past 20 years. Our girls are still shocked to see their dad eat cake. But oh, the fun we have had, and we are far from finished celebrating life. We hope you choose to celebrate life and all it has to offer: the good, the bad, and everything in between. None of us are promised tomorrow, so we make the best of today and we hope you will choose to do the same.

A few of our celebratory desserts we’ve had lately

Be a reflection of what you'd like to receive.

If you want love, give love.

If you want truth, be truthful.

I you want respect, give respect.

What you give out will always return.