Labor

Amanda did the whole thing with a wonderful attitude. She persevered through the entire 39 hours without drugs, and pushed for 2.5 hours to finally have the baby naturally. She

was patient and calm during and between contractions (she still

screamed a lot, obviously, but kept her slow and steady breathing). It

was a beautiful and very hard thing to watch, especially when she was

pushing.

When Eva was born I was overwhelmed with relief and gratitude. I'm

about to cry again just thinking about it. God is so awesome, and His

design is unique and good. What a beautiful plan for how people enter

this world. The curse is potent and the pain it causes is impossible to ignore, but God's grace is overpowering. Love

overcomes the curse and strengthens us when we are too weak to go on.

The gap between our fallen state and His holiness is wide: our frailty

and his strength, our flesh and his will, our sin and his love, our

obedience and his mercy, our faithlessness and his steadfast

trustworthiness. And the list goes on and on.

I've never prayed so much, been so tired, been so utterly grateful;

and never before seen such powerful evidence of our good and beautiful

Creator.

J. Duncan