First Comes Love

Take a look at a little stop motion video Jakub and I created over the weekend (let it fully load for a minute):


Untitled from rachel hartlieb on Vimeo.

That's right, we're having a baby! I think we were both quite shocked, truth be told, but we're so excited to see what adventures this little baby will bring us. I had been told over and over that it would be extremely difficult for me to conceive. I wanted a baby so bad, but figured it would take years of trying or spending money on treatments or on an adoption process for us to actually have children.

Although the reality of being pregnant, and one day having a child and raising that child to be a healthy, sane individual is quite terrifying at the moment, I know that God is good. He heard my prayers and had a plan in motion when I was still so anxious about the uncertainty of how my dreams would become a reality.

The whole story of how this came to be is another reminder for me that I have no reason to doubt God and how he works things into being. To have such a glimpse into His love at the very beginning of this child's life is a great way to start my journey into parenthood; I just need to trust Him and be willing to go where He leads because He will get me where I'm supposed to be at the appropriate time.

No matter what happens with the coming changes, I can rest in the fact that He has the ultimate say in my life: not doctors, life circumstances, or even myself. And I'm so thankful in that.

He has made beauty from ashes.

However, on the baby note: It appears that I will be due September 23, 2012. We've had two ultrasounds already and that little dream baby is growing just as it should be! Right now it's a little over 1 cm long. At our first ultrasound, it was .75 cm and I couldn't understand how something so tiny could have a heartbeat. That is, until Jakub reminded me that ants have hearts. What a guy, huh?

I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot more on the blog about this liminal stage we've entered into. Hope you'll join us for the ride!