the easterling's

picture!

2009-08-18T08:31:00.003-06:00

Well, it has been forever. Life with a baby is taking a bit more of my time than I thought it would! But it is wonderful. This past weekend Avalyn was dedicated at church, pictures to come.
Here is a picture I thought you might enjoy in the meantime!
At her 2 month checkup she weight 10 pounds, 9 ounces and was 22 inches long. She had gained almost 4 pounds since birth! WOW!
She is such a sweet baby and we are so blessed to have her. I still cannot believe God gave us this child. The past 2 nights she has slept from 8:00 PM-6:15 AM! She is starting to recognize us more and gives us lots of smiles!

1 Month

2009-07-02T09:57:00.003-06:00

Avalyn was 1 month old on Tuesday of this week. Here are a few pictures. She has grown quite a bit and we are noticing some of her clothes are getting a bit too short!
We are finally feeling like this is normal and are all adjusting quite well. She is sleeping pretty well at nights and some nights will let us sleep about 5 hours at a time! She is such a mellow and sweet baby. She is also becoming quite cuddly and when she is awake we are getting a lot of smiles out of her!
God is good!

what to do on maternity leave

2009-06-18T14:33:00.003-06:00

While both Josh and I are off this month we had some projects that we both wanted to work on. The first one was completed by Josh and my dad and that was building a roof over our back patio. It is really nice to have a shady spot in our backyard now!
Second major project was some painting that Josh has been wanting to complete. The colors we have used are Gobi Desert by Behr and Asparagus by Behr. There is also a reddish-orange color but we made it based on another color so it doesn't have a name.
Here are some photos of what we have done with the paint!

Asparagus and the reddish-orange color.

Gobi Desert starts in the dining room and goes all the way through to the living room.

Not Me! Monday

2009-06-15T10:22:00.002-06:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This week I did not finally put my little sweetie in a dress only 2 weeks after she was born because I would never wait that long to put a girl in a dress.

I did not go to the grocery store and realize why I really prefer babywearing over lugging that infant car seat all over the place...because I did not place the infant seat in the front seat of the cart and realize that I could not see over the seat thus having to peek around the edge of the seat the whole time I was trying to maneuver through the grocery store! No, that would not be me and my short little self!

And, no, it would not be me who would consider keeping our newborn in the Moby wrap while riding in the car instead of taking her out and putting her in her car seat. Nope, not me!

Have a great week!

Birth Story with photos =)

2009-06-11T21:47:00.010-06:00

Finally!

My water broke and we were on our way to the hospital. This is me at 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant.

The most joyous part of this is that we had decided to induce on Friday night, May 29 since nothing was happening and we were ready for the baby to come. We had still planned to do things as naturally as possible after the induction. We were really praying about if we should induce and although we felt like it was ok we still weren't super excited about it. I had been praying all day that God would make it very clear if we shouldn't go ahead with the induction. I was exhausted and just wanted to meet this baby girl. I left work that day about 11:30 AM and then Josh and I spent the afternoon shopping and ate a nice early dinner around 3:30. We got home around 4:30 and were finishing packing and cleaning house before our time for induction which was 8:30 PM. At 5:15 PM I coughed and to my amazement my water broke! I was still not quite sure since I wasn't having contractions so we went to the hospital.Here I am in triage. Most definitely water has broken they said. There was meconium in the fluid so this meant baby was in distress, she wanted out. It also started the timer, she needed to be delivered within 24 hours. We walked for 3 hours while we waited for a room to open up! There were a lot of babies being born this day but I was so glad that God answered my prayer. I have no doubt that He heard our cries for direction. We are so blessed to serve the Master Physician!
After 3 hours of walking we were only at 60% effacement and barely 1 cm dilated. We decided to start pitocin to see if that would help. We gradually turned up the dosage for a few hours and tried to labor without the epidural. The pitocin started contractions hard and fast and they were unlike anything I have ever felt. After 3 hours of these contractions I still had not progressed any more. We decided to start the epidural. They started me on a prett high dosage which did not react well with my low blood pressure and ended up having to give me some other drugs to keep my blood pressure up which in turn kept the baby's heart rate up. It was a very long night and morning with having to be monitored so often due to the BP and heart rate issues. Around 10:30 AM, May 30 I was finally dilated to 8 cm, and baby was at station +1. I was finally able to push around 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 30.
Exactly 19 hours after my water broke precious Avalyn Marie entered this world. I only pushed for 15 minutes. She was posterior which typically takes a while to push or ends in c-section and that also explains why labor was taking so long. From the looks of her head she was stuck for a while on my pelvis! She came out a little bit blue due to her cord being wrapped twice around her neck but they got her some oxygen and suctioned out all the meconium from her mouth and she was good to go!

Our doula, Nicki. She was amazing and it was so nice to have a familiar face join us in the delivery room after such a long night!Who needs a boppy when you have a sweet black Lab princess??

Hopefully she'll fill out these pants soon!
Our lives have totally been turned upside down and we are so happy that God chose to bless us this way. We cannot fathom His love for us, that he would entrust us with His creation. That He created Avalyn for us to enjoy just as he made the mountains and the trees and the clouds in the sky, she is part of His masterpiece-wow.
We love you sweet girl, your life is a miracle to us.

Sling and Swaddle Journey

2009-06-04T11:53:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to let you all know that I am participating in a very fun thing for the month of June. I was chosen to be one of 30 moms to Tweet for 30 days in a contest called Sling and Swaddle Journey. If you have Twitter, be sure to follow me, I am Mom_12! I will be Tweeting about life with a newborn, some of the new products we get to try and also sharing pictures and more fun stuff! So follow me on Twitter and keep up to date on how Avalyn changes every day!

Avalyn Marie Easterling

2009-06-03T14:15:00.002-06:00

She has arrived, in case you are a blog friend!
The details-
Avalyn Marie Easterling
Born: May 30, 2009 at 12:15 pm
6 lbs 13 oz
20.5 inches long
Most fun part of delivery...when she came out totally posterior (face up) and cord wrapped twice around her neck. I will share more of the story soon!

great deal today!

2009-05-26T09:31:00.004-06:00

If you are interested in babywearing or know someone who might be, please share this link today!

Baby Steals

They are selling Moby D Wraps for only $29.99!! We have a Moby already and cannot wait to use it. The different ways you can wear your baby are amazing. Also, the Newborn Care Class that we took at the hospital recommended a Moby wrap for babywearing so that is a plus! I have only heard great things about them.

nursery!

2009-05-20T17:18:00.005-06:00

A virtual tour of the nursery. Hope you enjoy! Here is our wonderful rocking chair from Grandpa and Grandma Miller! This is standing in the doorway looking to your left.Here is the rest of the crib, this is from Grandma and Grandpa Easterling! The photos are photos of the baby and our friends so at this point it is all photos of me with people! We will trade these out with updated photos of special people as she grows. The "old" photos will then go in her scrapbook! Also we will take out the stuffed animals once she is actually using the crib!

That changing table, what a steal! We were given the bookcase from some wonderful friends and had planned to use it as a changing table but then did not have quite enough room on top for a changing pad and all the supplies so I commissioned Josh to make a box on top of it! He did a great job and I think it is awesome!What's in all those cubbies?? DIAPERS! WIPES! BLANKETS! Here is a close up of our diaper stash: prefolds, fitteds, and disposables.
Some of her toys and blankets!Dresser full of clothes and other stuff. This girl is way blessed in the clothing department, I can't wait to bless others the way we have been blessed with hand-me-downs. God is so good!This is the closet with more clothing...that is just newborn, 0-3's and 3-6's. The rest are stored under her crib. Like I said, we are so blessed. Below that is the hamper and obviously the exit. :)Now her book stash is pretty small at this point but we plan to remedy that with some garage sale-ing this summer! I already got about 20 books at a garage sale last weekend, it was great! She also has a Webkinz black lab...do you think we should start that once she is born? I think you can track it on a website or something...not totally sure. :)
This is the whole stinking huge bookshelf that Josh made. He is such a great guy! I guess it's not very nice that we only give the babe one shelf but we have a lot of books for us!!
Hope you enjoyed the tour! She will be here soon and I am sure there will be tons more pictures!

37 weeks...

2009-05-11T10:27:00.005-06:00

This might be the last week I post a photo of myself. On Friday I took Josh on a date to the Mona Lisa Fondue Restaurant. It was a lot of fun! The food was delicious! This picture was us on our way out the door. Josh is looking especially slim lately after having his tonsils, uvula, and part of his soft palate removed. He lost about 12 pounds while on his liquid only diet! All is well here, we are just ready and waiting for this little princess to arrive! We can't wait to meet her in person!! I will try to post pictures this week of the nursery since it is really finished now!

Also, last week Josh went to get some coffee where 95.1 was broadcasting live and he won me a nice little gift basket!And since I didn't post it earlier, here is me at 36 weeks, I apologize for whatever was going on with my hair...apparently I didn't think to brush it before the picture! Oops!

a few photos

2009-05-04T13:44:00.004-06:00

All credit for these photos goes to www.daronshort.com.

Daron Short is a good friend of ours and took some pictures for us. He is SO talented and has such a creative eye. This was his first maternity shoot but I think he did an amazing job!

35 weeks!

35 weeks

2009-04-27T11:11:00.002-06:00

We are at 35 weeks. Wow. The time has seriously gone so fast, we have the nursery all done and filled up. And I do mean, FILLED. We have received so many generous gifts from family and friends. This weekend we had some maternity photos taken so instead of taking our own little funny looking picture I will wait until we get those photos back to post a 35 week picture. Little Miss is still very active although her kicks are getting lower, YAY! :) My ribs are excited about this too although once in a while she still manages to reach up there.
We have her bag packed for the hospital but won't pack ours until a little bit closer to the due date. Please pray that she has hair, I am bringing some bows just in case. :)
We have our last childbirth class this week and also will have our doula who has taught these classes at the birth with us. She does the classes and doula service as a ministry and she is really a wonderful lady. We have enjoyed getting to know her through her teaching and I know she will be a great blessing during labor and delivery.
I am also working on a playlist for labor and delivery, any recommendations?? :) I am thinking peaceful, soothing music that will provide nice background noise as this sweet creation enters the world, no Welcome to the Jungle or anything like that!
We were reminded last week in our class that this child is a gift from God, that God saw fit for us to raise and show His love to. That was such a great reminder because I get so nervous sometimes that we are going to "mess up" or not have the right things for this baby and then I was struck with that reminder and thought, "Hello, God has entrusted this little person to us. He will provide everything we need as He already has done." Then I was reading in the Psalms and came across this passage and I was again struck by His provision...

Psalm 139:15-16

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 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Before she was even placed in my womb and entrusted to our care, God knew. He has already written her days.

Praise God! We are merely his vessels and caretakers for her. What an amazing calling!

32 weeks

2009-04-10T08:08:00.002-06:00

Here we are at 32 weeks! We had a baby shower last weekend so my mom flew out. It was so nice to have her here! We have the nursery organized for the most part and I am having another shower this week at work so we'll see what else we get from that one and then probably have a few last minute things to still pick up. While my mom was here we went and picked out a rocking chair and that arrived last night. It is in about a million pieces so that is Josh's weekend project! I have been working out the details of my maternity leave for work and my boss is very supportive and helpful. Praise God!

30 weeks

2009-03-23T21:01:00.006-06:00

Can't believe how close it is getting to the due date! She is still quite active. I think she has learned how to dance! Right now she is jamming out to Chris Tomlin and she has decent rhythm. We got another huge box of baby clothes from one of Josh's co-workers, people are so generous!! Yesterday we went hiking but our camera was dead so no pictures of that!

29 weeks!

2009-03-16T17:25:00.004-06:00

My first baby...still trying to figure out how she will handle the change of sharing the attention!

Taking a little break because that is how we do now. =)

Well here we are at 29 weeks.
We went for a hike today and then did some cooking. It was a lot of fun. Baby Girl has been a lot more active lately so that has been way cool.
In the past week I think I have counted:
10 frog kicks
2,768 alternating leg stretches
20 hand waves
2 hiccups
87 rib kicks
=)

We also got to see her (briefly) in 3-d last week. She was pretty shy but it was fun to see what we were able to see. She only showed about half her face at a time but we could see a very active mouth and some little eye lashes. Also looks like she is getting some round cheeks already!
On other fronts, ankles have started to swell so I have been trying to consume amazing amounts of water!

27 weeks

2009-03-02T17:47:00.002-07:00

Here we are at 27 weeks (+1 day). Made the mistake today of eating a whole chimichanga at On The Border. Forgot how little room my stomach has to expand. Not dealing with heartburn or indigestion but with difficulty breathing since my stomach is now pushing on my lungs. HA! Oh well, I will just have to lay down for the evening.
Love you all!

Oh yeah we also created our registry yesterday at www.babiesrus.com.

congrats

2009-02-23T13:30:00.002-07:00

A friend from college just had a little boy, he looks so sweet. I personally am praying that God would bless us with a very similar L&D story! Welcome, Eli!

25 weeks!

2009-02-15T15:22:00.003-07:00

Had a checkup last week and everything is looking good. We'll get our 3-D ultrasound at the next appointment so that is pretty cool!
Here is me at 25 weeks! I honestly feel like my belly hasn't grown at all in the past few months but my ribs and clothes tell me otherwise! :)

nursery

2009-02-10T19:41:00.003-07:00

This is me at 23 weeks + 2 days. And little miss e's crib!! Thank you grandpa and grandma e!

Proud daddy!

He had a lot of fun putting the crib together. It went very smoothly!

Next step-painting the walls!!

pictures

2009-02-10T12:28:00.005-07:00

We are long overdue on a post and I do have a few planned but I do not have the necessary pictures with me at this time so instead I will post some of the pictures that I *do* have here with me.
These are from the last ultrasound we had where we found out that little miss e is a girl. I am not going to share those pictures because I don't think you should show your parts for all the internets to see. But I will show you how this little princess is developing in other ways.

Perfect little spine.The cause of my current state of discomfort.

Blowing bubbles I presume. That is her leg raised to the left there.

Little Miss Owl-you can also see her little arms down at her side, let's hope she is already learning her manners in there and will keep her hands to herself like a good little girl.

Also, BGE's movement=much more frequent as of late. BGE's much more frequent movement=sore ribs, sore stomach, sore bladder that needs to be emptied every 20 minutes, and much interrupted sleep. This is just training for what is to come! :)

Have a blessed day!

more diapers!

2009-01-26T09:11:00.008-07:00

Ok, here are a ton of pictures because these diapers are just so cute. Lacey came over and helped me sew a bunch of them on Friday night. These will use a lay in doubler/soaker.

The whole stack. I think we have enough to get through 1 day now. HA!

This plaid is probably my favorite. I can already envision a picture in front of a fire truck with this diaper.
Have to have the monkeys!

And the elephants! Too cute!
This little baby carriage print is adorable!
This print was called Giraffe Stripe. I like it!

Next up, soaker covers! I also need to add Aplix or Velcro to these before they can be worn.

Book Review

2009-01-22T16:01:00.002-07:00

I recently read the book Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care by Jennifer Block. I really enjoyed reading the book. It was very helpful to read about people’s experiences and beliefs about childbirth but what I most enjoyed was the scientific data to back it all up.

From the very beginning both Josh and I have felt we would prefer a natural birth for our baby. Neither of us are big “medicine” people to begin with and it just seems that this is something that a woman’s body has been created to do. I know and love many women who have never had children and I don’t want anyone to think that I am saying a woman was made to have children but our God is an Awesome Creator. I believe that when woman was created God had in mind that she would have the ability to bear children and thus created her with that in mind. I am not saying there is anything wrong with a woman who does not bear children! Ok now that is out of the way…

I firmly believe there were many, many women before me who have given birth without even the assistance of a doctor let alone Pitocin, Oxytocin, Epidural, and what have you. And so I (for the time being) am holding firm that if God has created my body with the mind that I will someday bring a child into this world that has grown inside my body then I am going to let it happen as naturally as possible. I read somewhere once that God will not give us more than we can handle. I do know that sometimes things arise that require medical intervention and we will cross those roads if/when we come to them.

So back to this book, Pushed, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the experiences women have had with hospital births because that is what we will be going through. Thankfully our doctor is very supportive of natural childbirth as long as it is safe for the baby. There are many doctors who do not support this and the book brought to light many things I had never thought about. I don’t remember which blog first referred this book to me but when I first started reading it I had to stop for a while because I was getting so freaked out about what the birth was going to be like. Then I was able to step back and look at it from a learning standpoint and making myself educated about all the options and sometimes requirements that come with having your baby in a hospital. The book helped me to be able to say, “Ok, these are the options that I will be faced with and maybe the hospital staff will try to talk me into and these are the reasons why I will refuse these things.”

I think every person should be informed when they make decisions and it is so important to be educated on your options before you make a decision so I guess now I should read a book promoting the use of drugs during delivery! :) I do know that having read this book and talking through it with Josh will help us in the long run. If I feel like I cannot do this naturally we will have some reasons already set in our minds on why we are doing this and be able to remind each other of that.

I would highly recommend reading this book if you are expecting. Probably not a good idea to read it before otherwise you might not ever want to have a baby!! :)

I do owe you all another post because I recently made a bunch more diapers that I need to showcase, let me just say these ones are so tiny and cute I can hardly wait to put them on our little girl!!

it's a...

2009-01-09T14:20:00.003-07:00

Survey says.....It's a girl!

Ultrasound says.....It's a girl!

We say.....YAY! A baby! :)

Everything is looking good and we are progressing right along. We got to see all her organs through the ultrasound and spine and brain. She was flipping and turning and then had her feet crossed. She also had her hands up by her face like she was praying and that was cute.

We are so thankful that everything is going well.

Can't believe we are halfway there!!

Continue to pray for us as we now delve into birth plans and all that crazy stuff!

19 weeks + 1 day

2009-01-05T20:54:00.004-07:00

Ok seriously did not think it would be this long between posts. Sorry pals!
Here is the latest and greatest. The bump is moving higher and getting more round (I think)! Also, had to take out the belly ring this weekend. The thing looked like it was about to rip out of my skin.Also, I sewed a bunch more diapers over Christmas break but I still have tons more to go. :) We find out Thursday if it is a boy or girl so stay tuned! Then we get to do the fun task of registering. Oh joy! :)
Also, haven't had any nausea for quite some time but just had a few random gags from the dog food smell. That is the only thing that has consistently made me gag but only a few times I actually lost it. TMI-I know!

16 weeks=4 months

2008-12-16T08:20:00.002-07:00

=I look pregnant. Kind of. :)

This is what happens when your husband is like twice as tall as you, all the pictures look like someone stood on a chair!

All is well with the babe, we got to hear the heartbeat last week and of course that was magical. We go for another ultrasound on January 8 to find out the gender!

surprise!

2008-12-12T08:55:00.003-07:00

Yesterday we got a very special surprise in the mail. A Moby wrap! This came from Uncle Brian and Aunt Tamara who used it for Ethan and are sharing the good with us now! We were so excited. Well I was more excited at first because Josh initially did not know what it was. Then we both tried it on and I wore it around the house while I was getting dinner ready. With a stuffed animal inside it! Ok we are dorks but we are excited to wear our baby and be able to get work done at the same time!

Here is a preview of me wearing a monkey...

I doubt our baby will be this small but that's ok!

Have a great Friday!

have heart

2008-12-10T11:12:00.002-07:00

We got to hear the heartbeat today. It is always so reassuring to get these reminders because I get so worried in between the doctor appointments that something is going to happen. And would you believe I didn't even ask what the heart rate was so there will be no guesses if this is a boy or a girl. We will find that out by ultrasound in January! Other than that, everything else looks good and the doctor said that Josh can help out with the delivery and hopefully will be able to "catch" the baby! Is there a better word than catch for this? I feel like saying catch means it is trying to get away. HA!
In other excitement, I just saw this today and think we will need one. Josh said he doesn't want a wimpy looking stroller, I think this will do it!
Have a good day!

stealing

2008-12-04T13:23:00.001-07:00

I totally felt like I was stealing when I found this great deal a few weeks ago. My first pouch sling! It was on clearance at our local Target for only $7.46!! And the only one in my size. It is so fun and it is reversible. I wore it around the house that night when I got it I was so excited. Seriously.

cloth diapers

2008-12-03T08:31:00.004-07:00

We plan to use cloth diapers when the baby comes so I took advantage of the Black Friday sales at JoAnn's and stocked up on flannel and other supplies. We are planning to use fitted diapers with a cover. I made three diapers on Friday as soon as I got home and got the fabric washed. It was a lot of fun and also a great learning experience. The pattern I used ended up being pretty big for a newborn so I am going to need to modify that for the rest of them. Here are a few pictures. I got about 6 or 7 different flannels but here are just the 3 that I started with. They are so cute!!

Lacey helped me pick out the fabric and also waited in line with me to get everything cut. They had huge lines you would not even imagine it was that crazy.

The website I have mainly been using for the diapers is here.

We will probably also purchase some all-in-one diapers to be used with babysitters or long days out and about.

14 weeks

2008-11-30T12:36:00.003-07:00

I think I will take the rest of the weekly shots in this format. Wet hair, no makeup, let the camera cover my face and there you have it. ;) Just kidding. Sorry, Mom!

It's a snow day here people! It has been snowing all morning and I don't know when it is going to stop. Josh is at work and here I am trying to photograph myself and this sweet little baby that is growing ever so quickly!

This was the night before, I don't know how the bump looks so huge here but maybe I needed to go to the bathroom or something. =) We went to see The Nutcracker. It was very fun.

Have a blessed day! Thank you for your prayers.

baby wearing

2008-11-13T12:02:00.003-07:00

This week is International Babywearing Week. While I am proudly wearing our baby internally right now I do plan to wear this sweet little thing on the exterior once they make their entrance into this world! Josh and I have both been interested in babywearing since before we even wanted to have a baby. We like the natural part of it and it just seems so much healthier to us than some of the other ways to carry a baby but to each their own really. We believe that each parent will learn what is best for their child and that is what they should do. So when this little person arrives in May I will be sporting a cute little sling and Josh has asked for something in camo. He likes the pouch style slings and so do I.
I don't remember how I found her but I have grown to really enjoy Stephanie's blog. She is a very talented babywearer and mom. She has a lot of great wisdom to share and I think we would be friends if we ever met. I like her style. She is also hosting a wonderful giveaway right now that would be pretty sweet to win, a sling fron Nonny and Boo!

Also, I don't even know if I've ever left you a comment Stephanie so here's to de-lurking as well. :) Thank you for sharing your life through the internet!

11 weeks

2008-11-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

We heard a lovely little heartbeat yesterday! And got to see the little monkey waving their arms around! What a refreshing and amazing thing to see! God surely is an awesome Creator. I don't know how anyone could think otherwise.

Well, the belly is starting to pop out. It is harder and harder to suck it in each day. Actually I've stopped trying to suck it in. :) No nausea today, maybe it is done!

Props to the Bella Band. Actually, praise God for the creaters of Bella Band because now I don't have to put on gym pants every night as soon as I get home from work. The Bella Band lets my pants still fit without having to spend an arm and a leg to get new clothes right now!

Here is a picture of the little belly.

nausea

2008-10-30T10:34:00.000-06:00

The sickness has begun. It started with just nausea which I could easily deal with. Then last week driving home from the gym one morning I couldn't control it. I lost the few crackers and Vernor's I had to tide me over until breakfast. This happened in the car, mind you. Then the next day it happened at home. There have been a few other times and of course it's not that bad but it's definitely not the most fun!
So sorry for the TMI!
Anyway, most days I just feel nauseous. I have a few more weeks until they say it should settle down so we will see. It is interesting how your body reacts to this. The little person is the size of a grape today and has arms and legs. The joints are developing and it can move the arms and legs around. The tail, gone! Maybe it will still have a small tail though, that would be cute.
Pictures coming soon! I have a very tiny little bump right now.

announcing baby easterling

2008-10-23T15:25:00.000-06:00

This is how big the baby is right now, a kidney bean. Or a raspberry. About .6 inches long. It has little arms and legs and a head where eyelids have formed.
We are currently at 8 weeks and 5 days. Soon we will be telling the world that we are expecting a little bundle of joy but in the meantime here are some pictures to document this momentous time.
We are thrilled (and a little freaked) that God would bless us with a child. He is such an amazing Creator. And to think that just 8 weeks ago this little being was not even formed yet but was being prepared...for us. For such a time as this.
I have been thinking about how amazing it is that it was God's plan for these cells to meet and grab hold of each other and create this little living thing to grow into such a blessing. How it was not a surprise to God, at all. It was God's love. It is interesting to think about creation, when God saw that Adam was alone and needed a companion, he took part of Adam and created Eve. Out of love. And then he saw that it was good. And when we look at a relationship with God, how at one time this person had a choice to meet and grab hold of their Creator and they grab hold. You see their life change and they become a blessing. They become a picture of love. And when two people who God has drawn together, just like those little cells, grab hold of each other and don't let go you see an amazing creation called love. I think creation is Love in its finest form.
It is quite a surreal feeling to think that something was being formed in my body and I didn't even know it. That God did not only create my body as a temple for his Spirit to dwell but that he created my body to grow one of His creations. And as it continues to grow, our love for this little bean continues to grow. Love is such an overwhelming thing. But. Love. Is. Enough.