Spice of Life

I was born at home under water, so I grew up thinking this was a very "normal" thing to do.  When I was pregnant with my first and started telling people I was going to deliver at home I received many different reactions, "Why would you do that?";  "Isn't that dangerous?"; "Ohhh really? Hmmm".  We were living in California and you would think people would be a bit more open minded, granted we were not in Sonoma County where I grew up, we were living in the Sacramento area which is a little more conservative.  However I was connected to my midwife through a friend who worked at my university.  We moved to Seattle when Kieren was about a year and a half and later that year I found out I was pregnant with Zoe.  This time when people asked where I would deliver and I replied "home", there was practically no surprise in their reaction, in fact they were very supportive (for the most part).  I found a great team of midwives in Capital Hil...

This morning for my devotion I was reading in 1 Samuel when Hannah takes her son to the temple after he was "weaned", which would have been about age 3 or 4.  She had been unable to have children but God gave her Samuel and she made a decision to give him back to her Lord, to have him raised in the temple.  My reading this morning was a reminder that our children belong to God.  Everything is His, but my children belonging to Him is not always at the front of my mind.  I carried these tiny people inside my body, endured intense physical pain to bring them into the world, nursed them, snuggled them, lost great amounts of sleep for them...and I'm about to do it all again in less than a month.  These kids are mine!  Well yes, they are...but ultimately they belong to the Lord.  He "knit" them together in my womb...a beautiful miracle that I will never fully fathom.  He gives me a great deal of grace and patience (mostly for myself) when I feel I'm com...