Saturday, January 28, 2012

For the grandparents. :)

Today at 4:45 pm, Colin will be a month old. How time flies!! And so I thought I should give a picture chronicle of his growth, mostly for the grandparents and those not on facebook. :) We love this boy more and more every day from the small toes up to the cheeks of chub. So, heeeeeeeeeeerrreee's Colin!! (Applause)





















Friday, January 6, 2012

From New Year's Eve to Epiphany: And we've had a lot of those!

After nine months, plus an extra two weeks, Colin Robert Wilson decided that he would make a dramatic entrance into our lives. All along I had been fearful that he would decide to have that entrance be Christmas Day, but he had other ideas and felt that New Year's Eve would be more spectacular. After all, it guarantees fireworks on one's birthday and the only other time you can say that is if you were born on the 4th of July. (And yes British friends, you can say that on Guy Fawkes' night. I hadn't forgotten. :)) After two days of rather intense labor I was beginning to think that he was actually going to wait to become a 2012 baby, but to my great relief, he came in right under the wire for 2011.
Mark, my parents and I had had other plans for New Year's Eve celebrations, the key part of which was spending it together with a new baby. But God had other ideas and so my folks enjoyed our treats at our flat while Mark and I stared very groggily at our new son in the recovery room. (By the way, my very first surgery experience was also not something I was expecting on New Years!!)
But what an appropriate way to begin a new year in every way. A new chapter in our lives started very neatly in a fresh, untouched year. I say neatly, but it was in every way not according to our plan. However, as my pastor is very fond of saying "God draws straight with crooked lines" and this is probably the most perfect example to date of that idea in my life. :)
And so my folks and Mark and I have truly had a week of epiphanies, leading to my parents' departure for home today and leaving Mark and I to a new life of being Wilsons three. So what are some of the epiphanies we've had?
1. The incredible love that leads you to not just say, but know in your core, that you can die for the sake of another person. How did God the Father so love us to send His only Son? My brain cannot comprehend the agony of their separation. How could I give my son to do such a thing? I could not. Thus, God is good.
2. A new level of gratitude and love on my part for my husband who was my rock during a very difficult labor in a new country. His patience and passion to fight for me was such a blessing and his laying down of self very evident. Our son is in good hands. :)
3. Massive joy to finally share with my parents what my siblings already have: a grandchild. God has given me the desires of my heart in this last year and a half with a loving husband and a sweet baby boy. I do not deserve these things and yet I have them. Good to remind myself of this at 2 am feedings. :)
4. An tremendous increase in the love for MY parents who came all this way and were such a help and comfort. After 32 years, it brings tears to my eyes to be able to present my son to the arms of my own parents and to share with them how they felt when I was born. ( my siblings too of course, but I'm the oldest you see :))
5. The amazement of studying a tiny hand that sits in mine and the two thoughts that came to my mind as I looked at it: first that my son is fearfully and wonderfully made, and second, that in 18 years, my hand will be dwarfed by his. I want to soak in every second of his tiny babyhood.
6. The joy of family. Mark and I are SO looking forward to spending a large chunk of our summer in the US with my siblings, cousins and grandmother. We just enjoy their company, but we also look forward to enjoying their company on the level of sharing parenthood with them and watching our children interact together. What a sweet thing is the fellowship of blood, both ours and Christ's.
7. For Mark's mum this is her first grandchild, and we look forward to sharing in her delight as she visits us soon.
8. The rather solemn responsibilities that Mark and I now have as parents to raise our son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It's very frightening, and at the same time lovely to think about. So a new level of prayer and dependence on God is found in this New Year. As you think of us, pray that we will seek Him continually as we raise a family.
Happy New Year!