She wants to dance with me.
And so, we do. As my newest baby bump starts growing, we have to maneuver new ways of how she can sit on my hip--but either way, we still dance.
And it's one of the best parts of my whole entire day.
I've been watching her so much more closely lately as she explores and talks and repeats. God speaks to me so clearly through her actions. The best part is that there is no trying on her end; she just is. She knows nothing except how to be herself--and it is so very beautiful to watch.
The parenting books and mommy magazines have so much to teach us about parenting our children, and I appreciate them, I really do. But sometimes, I just like to sit back and watch her. I think she equally has just as much to teach me. As David and I do our best to foster an environment where she is free to explore the beauty around her and to express herself creatively, I can't help but to soak her up like a sponge. She carries so much life with her, and I'm so grateful to have the privilege of stewarding such a heavenly gift.
And I don't want to ever forget it.
When I was pregnant with her, I remember people telling me it would just get better and better and better as she grew up. I believed them, but now I see it with my own eyes. I'm not sure how one day can lead to more love than the day before, but somehow it does. It is ever-expanding and life changing.
After every meal when I wipe her little hands off, I trace the outline of her each of her little fingers. And then I just relish in the beauty of her hands, and her fingers, and her little life ahead. It's one of those moments, that for whatever reason, is my pause moment in life. I stop just to soak her up, to be thankful, to be blessed. It makes my heart more paliable, and it gives me an opportunity to see the tangible evidence of God's love for me. If I'm tracing my baby's fingers three times a day almost in tears, how much more is He counting the hairs on my head?
Ella was foretold to us many times before she actually came to be--way before we were even interested and/or ready to have kids. And because of this, I knew that I was supposed to pay close attention to all that surrounded her. She was the one chosen to open my womb, not just physically but also spiritually. My labor with her was not just a hospital transaction. It was an act of intercession...bringing Heaven to Earth.
Until it was time to push, I thought I might die. And, in all reality, an old pattern of life did die. That mode of striving and contracting and contending made a swift shift in one moment. When Rest entered the picture, I entered pure bliss. And soon after, she was here. This gift that had been prophesied so many times, a gift full of so many promises that I didn't even realize were mine until she was born, were all here.
She is an amazing promise, for which I am so very thankful.
More on thankful....tomorrow. :)
(Last year's Christmas photo...one of my favorites!)
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