Preparing a place for her...

We've been busy preparing a room for our new baby girl. Baby things are brought out. Pages in the name book are earmarked. Soon the clothes will be freshly laundered with baby detergent and put in her dresser. The crib is dressed in pink and green. The blankets are neatly folded. Baby socks are paired two by two and those tiny little diapers will soon be purchased and stored, waiting for her arrival. Whether you're expecting your first baby or your tenth, whether the baby be born into your family or adopted into your family, there's still a lot of planning and preparation that go into bringing home your sweet bundle of joy...your sweet abundant blessing from the Lord.

As I was clearing out my current baby's room to make a special place for the baby we're expecting, I kept thinking about how we're doing all of this planning, and she has no idea. She doesn't know who we are. She doesn't know that in a few months she'll enter a bright and beautiful world - hearing new sounds, seeing each face of her family. And, though she's with me every day, I don't know her either, just yet. I don't know her temperament; I don't know how she looks, what her voice sounds like, or what spiritual gifts she's been given. God knows, though. He knows she belongs to us. He is giving her to us for a reason. Those truths never cease to amaze me - one child or ten children.

Those thoughts lead me back to one of my favorite pieces of scripture, the one that illustrates the preciousness of life and creation - even before our first day.

Psalm 139

I'm particularly touched by verses 13-16: 
13 For you created my inmost being; 
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
¹⁴ 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful, 
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ 15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 
¹⁶ 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

It seems that once you have more than two children, moms and dads get bombarded with that recurring question, "how do you do it?" There's a simple answer. We don't, God does. We trust in Him. We praise Him for his abundant blessings - the fun parts, the hard parts, the uncertain parts - we praise Him for them all. We take life one day at a time, knowing that He goes before us always. He's orchestrated the details we've yet to imagine. And, that's all we need to know. Children are a blessing and we are so thankful for ours and all God has ordained for their sweet lives.