Last night my 3-year-old son woke up crying for me. I lay down beside him for a little while to help him go back to sleep. I watched with wonder at his little fingers twitching, listened to his breaths getting deep.

Your lungs formed when you were inside of me. Those fingers, nails, hands, grew within my womb.

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.”

My son, who is a source of joy and stress, wonder and worry, once rested inside me – an experience no one else in this world will have. Even my husband will never come as close to Ephraim as I did when our hearts beat together. Let me never forget such rich mystery, the quiet love between us.

This summer we “grew” butterflies. We got to watch the caterpillars grow, form chrysalises, and then we waited. Finally, over the course of 2 days, butterflies emerged tenderly from their “wombs”. The children’s joy and and awe was lovely – they saw the beauty of birth, the mystery of transformation.

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”