Baby Keira, Our Proof of Life

We were all excited when Baby Keira was born, the first daughter of my brother Jojo. Of course, who wouldn’t be? Our family has all the reasons to celebrate for the coming of our additional member! She has a pair of big lovely eyes, an adorable face and a cute smile just like her father's. She wiped away our pain and disappointment since the death of the first son of my youngest sister Janice.

The emotional stress we suffered over the death of my nephew cannot be easily forgotten. We prayed for healing to come to our family so we could recover from such great loss. And it’s true that when someone’s gone, another will come. She may not know it yet but Baby Keira brought us life and comfort in her own little way. Her arrival signifies that God can give us happiness in the midst of our loneliness, at a time when we were almost blown out of proportion. When we thought that death of a loved-one would always cause so much pain before we could ever move on.

Every time I see the innocence in Keira’s eyes, I have mix-feelings of joy and sadness. I’m happy to see her grow into a cute lovely baby, but then I feel a little bit sad because our parents will never have the chance to see her. My father and mother died at the time when my siblings and I were just learning to discover new things. We were very young then and dependent of them. I had reasons to ask God, why? Why my parents, why did they die too soon?

The years of living without our parents became a sea of struggle and pain. It took years before we realized that we were still alive and had to go on. Living in this world for us is absolutely priceless. We had to learn how to fight for our life; we had to deal with people who took advantage of us, not to mention the huge amount of hardship just to put food on the table. Each time we think about the past, we become stronger and stronger and move up to the stairs of life one step at a time. We looked forward to the days when our weeping would soon be replaced by indescribable joy we have never imagined.

Then Baby Keira came. Death will hold us no more and the pain of grief cannot overcome us for such a long time. Yes, we cry once in a while but still the grace of God is always there. As long as there is free air to breathe, a beautiful morning to wake up for and a setting sun to view each day, we have reasons to be happy. Our cute little baby doesn’t have the ability yet to know our feelings nor understand our thoughts but she is one proof that there is indeed life after death.