show me a garden that's bursting into life

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I remember this conversation I had with my sister-in-law the last week of December 2020. It was the week my family spent during our yearly beach house trip. (You know, the week we all got covid.) Emily, my brother, Owsley and I had all decided to go to the little amusement park, and Emily and I were waiting for Owsley and Jonathan to ride something that would have made us both puke. I don't even remember what got us to talking about children and infertility, but she said, "You know, I'm kind of over it now. I'm past the age where all my friends have had kids, so I think I'm at peace with that. But it will be hard again when my friends become grandparents."

My brother and sister-in-law are two of the most loving and nurturing people I've ever known. I couldn't imagine two people more equipped to be parents, and it has absolutely baffled me why they had such horrible luck getting pregnant. One thing that has always bothered me is how some women who really shouldn't continue having more children still do, while others that want a child so badly just can't make it happen.

I was thinking about this past June when we found out Emily was pregnant. It felt like a miracle. It still feels like a miracle. And this morning my nephew was born. Maybe I'm not a total sociopath because I'm actually feeling feelings and crying happy tears for them. This is, without a doubt, easily the best news I've heard in two years. How incredible must it feel to have a lifelong dream finally come true?

Praise the Lord for this baby who has been prayed for for years. He is truly an answered prayer and I cannot wait to meet him and his full head of hair.

I haven't listened to Snow Patrol in a looooong time, but all I could repeat in my mind when I found out Lincoln was born was "If I lay here, if I just lay here, will you lie with me and just forget the world?" Because that's kind of how it feels with a newborn.

I am so happy for Jonathan and Emily, and what a lucky boy Lincoln is to have those two as his parents. It is kind of weird not to be able to go see him in person because of mandates. But at the same time, you never get those first few days again, and there is something kind of special in not having to 'share' your baby with anyone when they are so new.