i want a hippopotamus for Christmas

Oh wait, I AM a hippopotamus..... Santa must have delivered early this year. He apparently is the only one to deliver early =)

Today is the official due date, and I think it will come and go just like the last 7 days have come and gone. It is a blessing, nonetheless, to get to this day because now I actually know that the baby will come. As a first time mom, I expected to be late, and now I will be. Bring on the anticipation.

I must say, though my heartburn has taken on a whole new rare and awful form, the emotional strain of the last week(s) of pregnancy are, for me, far worse than the physical. Certainly I expected to be physically uncomfortable, but I was unprepared for the mental game. Perhaps I should have waited to post the picture with the gun this week?

I've been thinking a lot about Mary and what it must have been like traveling on a donkey (that's a labor inducing trick I haven't tried), to get to a stable, to deliver the Son of God. Imagine that anticipation. She must have been an amazingly strong, faithful, and Godly woman... of course she was, God picked her to deliver Jesus. At this time of my impending delivery, I am drawn to her story and her strength of character and her Labor of Love.

Here are the lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas songs in the Andrew Petersen 'Behold the Lamb of God' Christmas program.

Labor of Love

It was not a silent night, there was blood on the ground. You could hear a woman cry n the alleyways that night  on the streets of David's town.

And the stable was not clean, and the cobblestones were cold. And little Mary full of grace, with the tears upon her face, had no mother's hand to hold.

It was a labor of pain. It was a cold sky above. But for the girl on the ground in the dark, with every beat of her beautiful heart, it was a labor of love.

Noble Joseph at her side. Callused hands and weary eyes. There were no midwives to be found, in the streets of David's town, in the middle of the night. So he held her and he prayed, shafts of moonlight on his face. But the baby in her womb, He was the maker of the moon, He was the Author of the faith that could make the mountains move.

It was a labor of pain. It was a cold sky above. But for the girl on the ground in the dark, with every beat of her beautiful heart, it was a labor of love. For little Mary full of grace, with the tears upon her face. It was a labor of love.

39 weeks. I couldn't find a watermelon or a gun.

40 weeks. I told you I was huge! When I look at this picture, I understand why strangers ask me if I am having a Christmas baby. I look like I could go any day! The vegetable for this week was a pumpkin. I had saved my pumpkin from Halloween, but it was quite moldy. Mike was thrilled to throw it out. We improvised with a bag of satsumas that probably weigh at least 5 lbs. Maybe not quite 7, but really.. the weight of the baby is any one's guess at this point.

In very exciting news, we are thrilled to announce that Mike's cousin Hilary had her beautiful baby boy, Collin Everett McLeod, yesterday 12/22 in Akron Ohio. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Lord, Thank you for allowing me to carry this baby to term. I pray for an ounce of the grace that Mary had, and I thank you and praise you for the noble man that you have placed by my side.  

We can not wait to write an 'It's a girl/It's a boy' post. Oh, I suppose important info is that we will be induced on 12/31 if the baby hasn't come by then. However, my OB is fairly certain we won't even need to get to that point.

Merry Christmas. We love you all! Heather, Mike, and Owcy