The Cycle of Life

We are having a baby boomlet at St. Spike's. This takes a bit of getting used to, because for better and for worse, we haven't been much of a "family" church, and now there's stroller traffic jams in the back of the nave, and the rocking chairs are occupied by actual infants being held by mom or dad. They are all just as cute as cute can be. I am looking forward to being an auntie surrogate (indeed, I am practicing on some of the older sibs).

About two weeks ago, the baby population unexpectedly increased by one. A couple in the church, who had made it known they were interested in adopting a child, got a phone call that apparently went something like "So, we have this baby, you wanna adopt him?" Cue the cross country flights, emptying of the parish "attics" for suitable baby gear, blog entries, dad-to-be walking around with a goofy grin and a stunned expression as he holds down the home front, and a lot of *SQUEEEEE* by a lot of people around here.

I couldn't stop grinning for a week. All babies are a gift from God, but this one really seems like a miracle.

I thought I had missed some clues by being self-absorbed in my own problems, but when I saw Micah after the announcement, I said (after the congrats) "I had no idea". His response was, "Well, neither did we."

And this past week when someone heard and tried doing some discreet questioning at coffee hour about just how they got the baby, someone else responded with a big twinkle in her eye, "The stork brought him!" And I said "No way, they found him in the cabbage patch!"

So, between baby fu, the weather warming up, and all the flowering things flowering (*achoo*), I'm not feeling very Lenten this year.