Our baby’s due date came and went without the first sign of nearing labor. Each following day could have been the perfect beginning of a birth story. The day Randy discovered the song of the wood thrush and absorbed himself in writing a piece of music using the intervals of the bird’s song. There was…
Category: Pregnancy and Birth
Standing at the Edge of a World
A woman on the verge of birth Is standing at the edge of a world. She moves through the rhythms Of her normal lifeWhile preparing to travel,Led by the loving voice of God,Somewhere no one else can follow.The hidden path that opens itselfOnly once.The passage she aloneCan pass through. As I have been moving through…
Marking a Season
I miscarried nine days before our 15th anniversary. There we sat, across the table at a little cafe, drinking coffee together. Our six living children were home with a friend who gave us the day together to celebrate our marriage. The week before, Randy and I had privately laid the whisper of a body down…
Singing Out a Baby, the Birth Story of Rune O’Carolan Chester
“I am walking into this labor differently than I ever have before. I am walking into it with a spirit of fight. Not just trying to keep my peace, not just trying to stay calm, not just surviving and getting to the other side. I am walking into this labor with the desire to put…
The Poetry of This Morning (On the Day Before My Due Date)
The poetry of this particular morning is not lost on me. May 15. The day before my due date. I woke early this morning after a night of mild, sporadic contractions, wondering if today will be the day that we will meet our son. It could happen at any moment. The waves of contractions reminded…
Joy and Sorrow (How Does Your Garden Grow)
It still hits me in waves. Not like it did last spring. When my little garden was blooming and sheets of rain came down steadily day after day. I drank tea in the music room and looked out over the mint and the marigolds and all the beautiful shimmering living things growing there in the…
Are You Going to Have More?
People are always asking me if we are going to have more children. The tiniest bit of smalltalk can tease this question out of a complete and utter stranger. We go from eye contact, to a silent head count of my six kids, to are all these yours and are you going to have more……
Miss and Carry (A Little Life Remembered)
I miscarried nine days before our 15th anniversary. There we sat, across the table at a little cafe, drinking coffee together. Our six living children were home with a friend who gave us the day together to celebrate our marriage. The week before, Randy and I had privately laid the whisper of a body down…
Buying a House is Like Having a Baby
The process of buying a house is remarkably like the stages of labor. Step 1: It’s Time. This is the exciting moment when you realize you are actually going to have a house. You are going to get to see the home you have only been dreaming about for so long. You know that you…
Having Children: A Spiritual Journey
Over the last few weeks, I have been rereading old blog posts and speculating about my life. The past year has been both incredibly sweet and difficult, trying to balance daily life with six young children with all the demands of three meals a day, the never-ending laundry, growing a home business, homeschool, planning for…
Waiting on Azalea Jane, a birth story
I am writing this weeks after Azalea was born, and it reminds me of the way you feel the next morning after waking up from a nightmare. In the middle of the night, a dream can feel so terrifying. Your heart is pounding. You felt that it was so real. The next morning, when you…
The Best Day of My Life
Tomorrow is my due date. I can hardly believe that in a few short hours or days, the secret face of this child will be revealed, and we will be holding her in our arms. God has done a huge miracle in my life to make me brave for this day. I wrote in my…