Survivor, Overcomer, Warrior, Fighter, Dreamer

I had a great conversation with my brother tonight.  He was telling about a book he read that told the stories of modern day "Davids" who have overcome great adversity to change the world.  The book is called David and Goliath.  I ordered it on Amazon and not 2 minutes later, my husband walked in and handed it to me.  I should have know that if there was a good book out there that he would already own it.

I am pretty excited about getting started because the blurb speaks to something I have believed for a long time, "all to demonstrate how much of what is beautiful and important in the world arises from what looks like suffering and adversity."  It is a message that I preach to my children every day and it looks like this picture.

Some people might look at this picture and see a 3 year old ballerina.   When I look at this picture I see so much more.  

I see a survivor who made it through being abandoned at birth and spending the first several months of her life flat on her back with minimal interaction.  What you can't see in that swept back hair is the flat posterior head that tells the story of her early months.  She is a survivor.

I see an overcomer who woke up one morning to find herself being placed in the arms of people who didn't look like her and then being carried across the world to a place she had never heard of. What you don't see in those eyes is the insecurity we encounter every time one of us leaves her presence for more than a few hours. She is an overcomer.

I see a fighter who suffered 2 strokes and, if she survived, was supposed to be blind, deaf, and paralyzed.  Do you see that part in her hair?  That is the scar from where they drained her infected cysts on her brain on two different occasions.  She is a fighter.

I see a warrior who battled through open heart surgery at 3 years old and is still battling the complications of having her tiny heart re-built on an operating table.  You can see her chest scar peeking through her leotard but what you can't see are the numerous scars that look like gun shot wounds between her ribs from the multiple chest tubes she has had to drain fluid off of her heart and lungs.  She is a warrior.

Finally, I see a dreamer because for weeks she has talked about being a ballerina.  The week after her first lesson she continued to put her hands in the air and show her daddy how she twirled in circles and walked on her tippy toes.  She is dreamer. 

 I can't wait to read this book because, if it is right, my little "David" will most definitely change her world and I too may write a book some day about the survivor, overcomer, fighter, warrior dreamer who I got to call mine.