Watching with new eyes

Last night and tonight we will be sitting down as a family to finish watching video from some major events in our family story. Last night we watched the video of our wedding and then jumping ahead to Cora's birth. Tonight we watch Henry's. C-sections are nice in that way because there's no potential for "violence/gore." So little ones can watch it without seeing the tough stuff you'd get with natural births.

It was neat to hear Cora and Henry tell Adam and I how nice we looked and to talk about the people involved and ask questions about things. What struck me is how beautiful it all is, this vocation of being a family, a mother, a wife. I see how young we were and are- how little we understood and understand, but we trust and we walk and do what we can to bring a beauty to this life we live. And we are, I think, when I examine it from this side. It's hard going day by day to see what you're creating, but to be able to have the ability to look back and see where you've been, it's easier to see it.

I experienced such joy seeing Cora's birth and Henry's birth again. So different (as people and in the experiences) yet nothing but awe in both situations for these people God made. I am excited to see how Henry reacts to his story. Cora could tell how much we loved her from the very beginning. I hope Henry gets that too, young as he is.

This morning, they both came up to my tummy at different times, looking at it with new eyes and seeming to understand a little better that within is another person, about to join us, to love us, to love and and to change us all. Such joy.