Season of Babies

It's been raining babies for the last few weeks straight now, with new forecasts all over the map to boot. Congratulations to our favorite new mothers and fathers and their long anticipated tiny arrivals (some tinier than others...): Katherine and Matt with new baby Sabina, Kelsey and Bill with their baby William, my very favorite Beth and Justin with the most adorable baby Maelynn (shown above), and Mary and Kelly with their third baby boy, as yet, unnamed. Angie and Dan will follow in the next few days with their newest addition as well. Tis' the season of babies, I suppose- just lately more like monsoon season.
What a beautiful experience to create a new family, to bring children into the world who will be raised to strengthen all that is good, and who will teach us as parents what it means to bear love unfeigned. Of her first day as a mother, Beth wrote:

My Day Old Child

My day old child lay in my arms
With my lips against her ear,
I whispered strongly “How I wish,
I wish that you could hear,
I’ve a hundred wonderful things to say
(a tiny cough and a nod)
Hurry, hurry, hurry and grow
So I can tell you about God”

My day old baby’s mouth was still
And my words only tickled her ear,
But a kind of light passed through her eyes
And I saw this thought appear,
“How I wish I had a voice and words,
I’ve a hundred things to say,
Before I forget, I’d tell you of God,
I left Him yesterday”