Experiencing Life

Beth and I are about to sign a lease on an apartment here in Portland. We will be moving on October 15th. This process of preparing for our little baby, while navigating the challenges of searching for housing feels like a BIG life thing. I'm encouraged by the stories of our parents, and grandparents. They tell us about the crazy things they had to do to survive. Every time they speak of it, there seems to be some reverence for those days. As if the struggle put everything into a healthy perspective. Their smile speaks assuredness, "You will make it through."

thump, thump

Yesterday we were able to hear, for the first time, a faint thumping of a tiny, tiny heart. Our midwife circled Beth's stomach with the doppler in search of that quiet thump, and for only three or four second intervals we could hear our little one.

During our week 12 visit, as we sat in the room full of anticipation for that audible sign of life, I (mark) grew more and more overwhelmed with the emotions of it all. So when the midwife informed us it was too early to hear anything, I experienced a flushing of those emotions. I quickly stood up and made my way to the bathroom. With the color disappearing from my face, I stood in front of a mirror with a wet towel on my forehead.

Yesterday was different. This time seemed spiritually rich. It was our first sensory connection with a little life growing in an unseen world. I walked away in awe.

I feel so privileged to be given this opportunity to be daily awed by the mystery, wonder and excitement of this process.

An Exciting Announcement!

I'm not sure that there are many people who read this, who are not also our friends on facebook...but in case you exist, then I'd hate for you to feel left out! Today Beth and I announced that we will be expecting our first child in March of 2012! This, as you can imagine, has been an amazing time for the both of us. When we found out in August (on our anniversary!) we knew that we would have to be careful how we handled the news. We knew we were going to see our families in Pennsylvania in early September and so we had to keep our news a secret until then. After revealing the great news to our families, we had to ask them to keep it a secret as we wanted to tell everyone at West Hills in person (not on facebook). Thankfully everything worked out as planned, and now we are happy to announce publicly that we are very excited to be Mama and Papa in another six months!