402

This is a tapir. A brazilian Tapir specifically. We have a Bairds Tapir at our zoo and Melvin is one of our favorite animals there. They have some interesting similarities to people. For the first week of their life, they go into seclusion. That quiet private week is always my favorite after having a baby. Then they stay close to their mother for a full year after which they are weaned. Silas is almost 8 months old (I cant believe it either) and suddenly I'm preparing to begin weaning him. I'm not ready  for this big big step. Wasn't it just yesterday we were here....

At about 18month old though Tapirs reach maturity and can become pregnant. They  gestate for approximately 400 days. FOUR HUNDRED DAYS. Can you imagine? 400 days of waiting, dreaming,  planning. I couldnt stand pregnancy. I just wanted to see their little faces. Smell their little heads. Count their little toes. I wanted to know what  their giggle sounded like, how they would want to fall asleep at night, how they would feel in my arms. Three times I went through this. I was pregnant no more than 39 weeks at a time. 273 days of what I would describe as pure anticipatory torture. The only thing that kept me sane were the kicks. The punches. The heartburn. It made it real.  Horribly uncomfortable, but real.   My physical pain kept my emotions from bursting through the roof. They kept my brain from imploding on itself.

Meet Becky.

First, you should know I love this girl. We met my sophomore year of college when she was a freshman and had at least one class together every semester. Until she kicked my butt and graduated BEFORE me. She was an always there for you with the truth kind of friend. Willing to make me face the tough stuff, but with a coffee in her hand. She got me through some really really tough times this girl. She drove three hours to be there for the birth of my first born. Bought a stupid expensive dress to stand by me on my wedding day... only after facing me with some really tough truths about sin and my heart. This mothers day all I thought about was her. Because 402 days ago she started a photo collection marking the number of days she has been waiting for her adoption of a beautiful baby boy in Ethiopia. He is darling. Has the best cheeks on the planet. Trust me, I stare at his picture often. FOUR HUNDRED AND TWO DAYS. And thats not even when her journey began...just when she started making tally marks on the wall 10 months into it. It struck me today thinking about mommies and waiting mommies that not even Tapirs have to wait so long to get their baby into their arms. Or prehensile trunk... or whatever. It just seems too long. Too painful. Too much waiting. But then I remember Elizabeth. You know, the mother of John the Baptist. The bible tells us that she was well along in years when she found out about her baby... but then she had to wait that entire pregnancy. Can you imagine? Knowing your long awaited child that you just knew would never come was inyou. But no one beieiving the crazy old lady could have a baby. Only the silent pains in your body as proof. The nudges, the aches, the sciatica. Can you imagine being so close and yet so far away? Becky knows. She's held her baby. She's smelled his sweet head and pinched those  uh-mazing cheeks. Will you pray for my friend. And for her baby. And please pray for all the parents waiting on Ehtiopian adoptions to be finalized. Lord Jesus, bring these babies home. Go see her blog will you? Buy a bag while you are there! Help her know that the pain is what makes it real.  For her it isnt heartburn and sciatic nerve and round ligaments but the waiting nonetheless painful. Physically painful. YET In the pain is the promise. "He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it". Phillipians 1:6

For he is Good.