The Blessing of Babies :)

   Those sweet days of waking up to Baby's gymnastics in the morning and going to sleep (or not)  to Baby's kicks and flutters at night have arrived. I love those times when the house is quiet in the morning, when Baby and I are the only ones awake, and I always take a few minutes to just stay in bed and "bond" with Baby :). I love being "with child"!!! Not that it is all a cake walk, there are the countless visits with the midwife when you really just want to sit at home, the morning (...afternoon...and evening) sickness...all nine months, the usual aches and pains, and then that pesky little thing called labor at the end :). But when you really think about it, in Genesis God said that a woman's curse was to be in childbearing and yet our compassionate and merciful God has, in His grace, allowed childbearing to be in many ways the most wonderful, awesome, and fulfilling thing a woman will ever be a part of! To bring forth a human being with an eternal soul in the same way that our Lord chose to come to earth, to feel that little human living in it's "secret place", to hold that precious treasure in your heart, mind, and body before you can hold it in your arms, from beginning to end expecting a new little lamb is nothing less than Marvelous! Leave it to our Father God to make our chastening more palatable. And you thought that "Mary Poppins" contrived the principle of "a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down" ;)!

   Having had three little girls as different from each other as can be I am that much more excited to find out what personality God is going to use next to mold our family into what He is intending us to become. But, before that mystery is solved we have a major milestone coming up in the fairly near future. We have reached the home stretch and in less than three weeks my "baby" will be a year old!!! She is definitely a kinesthetic learner :). We have never had a child who had to taste and touch like Bethani has, it has made life interesting! Since she was just a few months old she has loved to play with anything she can take apart,  put together, and put in her mouth.  She loves music, when she sees someone walk over to the drawer where we keep the CDs she automatically begins dancing, smiling, and clapping. There are a couple of specific CDs that Lee loves to use to "dance her to sleep" (one of the sweetest things I see in a day!). She loves bread :) and hates cottage cheese, but she will eat it with a willing heart. She loves her big sisters, her daddy,and I'm pretty sure she likes me a little bit too ;). She gives the sweetest hugs and kisses and sleeps like an angel...finally!!! :) What a precious gift she has been to our family, praise the Lord for His blessings and goodness!

      

Bethani at 3 days

 

... and 9 months later :)