it's a boy! it's a girl! it's an epidemic!

i was away from my desk for about 27 minutes.  when i came back and scrolled through my facebook newsfeed to see what i had missed over lunch, there were three birth announcements. 

sigh.

i am excited for these friends.  they are from three different stages of my life, so it's neat to be able to watch as lives and families develop.

but.

maybe three in half an hour felt like a little bit of piling on...especially on the day where it has been snowing for hours.

seasons.  seasons.  seasons.

they all end.

be still my heart

it is no secret that i love babies.  i love how little they are.  i love how soft they are.  i love how they smell (the clean smell, not the poopy smell).  i love their little faces and feet and hands and mouths.

i have loved many babies in my life, but i love my niece and nephews best of all.  and this new one...oh.my.heavens.

i could literally eat his face off.  i am just so madly in love.

you guys, he cries like a baby dinosaur.  come on!  how could you not want to nuzzle him just all the time??

 

 

 

ooh baby baby

hey, remember that time that my sweet noah was born, and i was so excited that i ran over my phone with the lawnmower?  oh noey.

and then that chubs named lily was born.  oh gosh.  her face was so fat, she couldn't even open her eyes.  haha shorty mcgee.

and then i was with brittany as she got her epidural to have daniel.  that was a special sister moment.  baby danger was the exact opposite body shape of lily...long and skinny.

and now, james dean aka baby j squishy jd james jimmy jim jim jim jim jim is on his way.  making his appearance in a few hours.  i am...a little excited.

my niece and nephews are pretty much the greatest things on the planet.

my anchor holds within the veil

hey, friend.  i hope this week has treated you kindly, full of gentle words and tender embraces.  it has been that kind of week for me, every day bringing little moments of grace and wonder.

here's the kind of weird thing, though.  nothing really happened.

do you remember when i wrote THIS POST just a few months ago?

well, circumstantially, nothing is very different in my life.  i'm still a single lady, hoping and praying that i will get to marry a farmer and have a lot of babies.  (he doesn't have to be a farmer.  i've just really been in a little house on the prairie kind of mood.)  my heart still both delights and breaks when i snuggle with my sweet nephew.  there is a very real loss and sorrow in my life.

but.

i am safe to travel to the edge of that sorrow, to look it right in the eye, to feel the utter extent of that pain and confusion. 

my anchor holds within the veil.

there is no place i can go where He is not.

and allowing myself to fully feel those emotions and acknowledge my life circumstances creates a space for healing and rest.  creates space for holy dancing and jumping and delighting in the freedom He purchased at such a great cost.

do you see?

i fully feel my joy because i fully feel my sorrow.

have a great weekend, beloved.  let me know how i can be praying for you.