Button Belly

I had a priest at my parish when I was growing up who was from Vietnam, by far one of my favorite priests ever!  When he first arrived at our parish his English was, to say the least, not great.  He often mixed up common phrases and stumbled over his words during his homilies; one of my favorite things he messed up was switching the words in "belly button" to "button belly."  I used to think, in my primitive 5 year old mind, that babies were born into the world from their mother's belly buttons (it makes sense since my mother always told me that my belly button was what attached me to her in her belly).  How wrong I was!  I thought that when the time came, the weird little indent in my belly would just open up and the baby would come right out and the belly button would close back up on it's little wrinkled self...wouldn't that be easier?  I see now, that being 30 weeks pregnant and losing that little indent more every day the belly button doesn't just "open up," nor would my theory be logical that it would be painless...there are many times I am pointing out my belly button to Marty and he goes to touch it and I slap his hand away because my little button is tender now that it's not safely tucked away where it's supposed to be.
As nervous and scared as I am about this little one coming I am so excited to meet her.  I think everyday as I get bigger that she's outgrowing her little home and will soon be joining ours...what an amazing thing to think about while reflecting on our belly buttons...seriously, that little indent kept us alive in our mother's womb and is a constant reminder that we are sustained by something greater than ourselves.  It's our mother before we're born but it reminds us that God is the greatest life sustainer of all when it comes to being a lifeline that continues to nurture us throughout our lives.  Maybe the next time you look at your belly button you'll be reminded that we come from nothing and are brought to life by Christ.

God at Work

Just this past Thursday I became an auntie!  My little nephew, Isaac, came into the world, a true miracle.  For five years we have prayed for this little boy and finally he arrived...in his own time.  This shows me that God is truly at work in our lives...sometimes He likes to take His time to make sure that everything is perfect!  I am so excited for my brother and sister-in-law, they are so in love with this little guy!  When I got the message that she was in labor I was sitting in the hallway of an elementary school while 100 little kids participated in Vacation Bible School (I was at the nurse desk with bandaids); I was so excited that I wanted to leave and jump in the car and drive to Connecticut to see them...probably not the wisest of decisions so I stayed at my desk...but the whole time I just couldn't wait to see a picture of my nephew!  Finally I got a text message from my brother saying Isaac had arrived...and the second text message I got was that he also had Emil's little jacked up toes (a couple of which happen to cross under each other).  That's when I cried a little...Isaac is a little mini Emil/Hannah...that's when it hit me that he's not just this little guy who had been growing in Hannah for 9 months...he was in fact, a little version of the two of them...God's proof of love embodied in a person! 

Thinking of that, I am even more excited to meet our little girl...to see what she looks like...maybe have my crazy hair or something...but most importantly I can't wait to see her as an embodiment of God at work in our lives!