Wichita ? Lydia Schleicher knows all about miracles. And as the magical Christmas of 2003 fades into history, she feels like she’s maybe had more than her share.

Her husband, Rob, knows for sure that he got the greatest Christmas gift any dad could wish for late Christmas Eve when his plane touched down at Mid-Continent Airport and his family was there to greet him — Lydia, 3-year-old Connor, almost-2-year-old Colin and 8-month-old miracle, Catie Grace.

It was no ordinary Christmas homecoming. Rob was back in the United States after serving nine months on active duty as an Army reservist in Afghanistan. He can’t be shipped out again for at least another year. And maybe, just maybe, life will return to something like normal after almost a year of turmoil and tests of faith for his family.

“I feel like I have to thank God every day, for every blessing,” Lydia Schleicher said last week as she struggled to get used to the idea of having somebody around to change the TV channel, take Connor to go potty, and run outside to check and see just what it was that just fell off the roof and glided past the living room window. “I am just about the most blessed woman alive.”

She recounts the wonders of the past year with something like awe: the job change in October of 2002 that brought her family to Wichita — and to the top-notch neonatal team at Wesley Medical Center where baby Catie Grace was born in the 29th week of a troubled pregnancy; the safe arrival home of her husband; the friends, neighbors and church friends who gave unstintingly of their time to help her cope.

“I sit here today knowing that I could be grieving for a lost baby while instead I hold my chubby little miracle in my arms. I could be grieving for a husband lost in war while instead I’m watching him play with our boys. These things haven’t just happened. There’s been a hand holding on to all of us through all of this.”

The past nine months have been by far the hardest of her life.

Lydia Schleicher, a native of Atlanta, met Rob, a Wisconsin boy, in 1995 while both were on active duty at Fort Riley. They married in 1997 and a year later completed their active duty tours. They moved back to Wisconsin where he got a job with Case Corp. and they both joined the Army Reserve.

Their Christmas miracle of 1999 was the news that Connor was on the way. In 2000, they celebrated the wonder of his 4-month-old innocence. By 2001, baby Colin was about to make an appearance and they celebrated Christmas 2002 with the news of Baby Catie and the joy of their new home in Wichita.

Lydia Schleicher, right, gets help unwrapping a present from her two sons, Colin, almost-2-year-old, left, and Connor, 3, center, in their Wichita home. Schleicher's husband, Rob, an Army reservist, returned from Afghanistan where he was working as an engineer for the past nine months.

Then came 2003. First there was the news that all was not well with this pregnancy. In February came the news that Rob had been called to active duty.

It never crossed either of their minds to fight the assignment.

“You join the Reserve, you take the paycheck, and you raise your hand and say, ‘I’m willing to serve.’ You don’t back out when duty calls,” Lydia said.

Not long after that, Lydia was in the hospital on bed rest, her pregnancy at risk.

Rob’s parents came to stay with the boys. Neighbors became friends; church friends became a support group.

When the day finally came, she sent a Red Cross message to Rob.

Rob Schleicher, top left, helps his sons, Connor, at left, and Colin, with a puzzle on Christmas Day. Schleicher, an Army reservist, returned from Afghanistan where he was working as an engineer for the past nine months.

The next morning he called.

Lydia could tell by Rob’s voice that the Red Cross hadn’t yet reached him. She told him he had a baby daughter.

A baby daughter who was fighting for her life in the neonatal unit.

As doctors watched the baby’s condition and feared the worst, the monitor began to show tiny blood vessels plumping up. And the blood oxygen levels began to climb: 45, 55, 65, 75, 85.

Baby Catie Grace had begun her long climb toward being the normal, chubby-cheeked 8-month-old she now is.

A day later, her daddy saw her for the first time. In two weeks, with Catie Grace’s condition stabilized, Rob was back on a plane to Afghanistan.

He lived in a tent and survived on packaged food, bottled water and e-mails from home.