My friends and I recently had a baby blessing for our dear friend Megan.
It was such a lovely afternoon celebrating her, her family, and the bundle of goodness coming soon!
I'm so proud of her bravery, her compassion, and her willingness to dive into this adventure open hearted.
We had a really lovely 'string ceremony' where we all sat in a circle with a string (we used baker's twine, Deborah's genius play on "a bun in the oven, from my favorite neighborhood letterpress store,
Pink Olive) and said our name, our mother's name, our grandmother's names, and who we were the mother of. I said I'm the mother of myself, yo. :) We then each cut a piece of string and we will wear it until the baby is born--keeping her and baby 'Nike' (Nee-kay) in our thoughts. It was a really nice way to honor her, baby, and my own family.
We each brought a special reading for her as well.
Mine was from a lifelong favorite, Kahlil Gibran.
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
We finished with a belly painting activity.
Watching Nike kick the entire time was incredible.
I painted a cupcake! (my artistic skills are somewhat lacking).
