Audra

And just 

like that,

a miracle happened in the dark 

of our morning hours.

My sister shone and

my niece arrived

and their family becomes four.

See,

my family has seen eight babies born in the last five years,

 

going on nine any day now, 

but every time it humbles me to the core.

When my niecie-twins were born and watching their care

each time I've introduced my children to their newest baby,

awaiting our daughter,

I find myself in utter awe of the intricate beauty, 

and my heart finds refreshment in the reverence.

I never want to let go of the divine pause a birth brings.

And so, 

while thunder rumbled 

and with illuminating flashes,

while rain washed and streams ran,

Audra Grace

with full cheeks and long fingers and dark hair and a thumb she sucks already,

her heart, 

her soul, 

her strength,

her life, 

was handed gently to the world.

A quiet reminder of unmatched miracles,

a fulfillment of divine promise,

through tender tears of pain and longing and sacrifice

labored for,

she arrived and 

is 

everything good and perfect

and loved.