Ash Wednesday

I almost lost track that today is Ash Wednesday and I am so glad that God gently reminded me because I would have been disappointed to have missed this divine appointment or shown up late for it. This is a very special Lenten Season to me! If you scroll back in my blog and check out entries made in late July and early August, you will find the "whole story" of why I felt God prompting me to have a Lenten Celebration at that time of the year. What I didn't know then was that I was pregnant. Ben and I found out on August 7th that this little one we now know as Carter had begun being "knit" together by God several weeks earlier. We went from 40 days of Lent to 40 weeks of pregnancy! To then go in for that first ultrasound and find out that the due date we and the doctor's office were working off of was being changed to....you guessed it, Easter Sunday??? What an awesome thing! So, here we are full circle of sorts at Lent. It is my intention on this pass to do a better job sticking to my Lenten commitment of daily reading in the devotional I started then--"40 Days of Lent: Scripture and Reflections on Jesus' Passion, Death, and Resurrection"by Ty Saltzgiver. With all the excitement and distraction of learning we were pregnant, I wasn't exactly as focused as I had hoped to be on the last attempt. So, with joy and expectation I enter this time of preparation for the Easter celebration of Christ's passion for each us. And throughout this all, I remain and will continue to be amazed by God's design and the intimate ways in which He enters our lives when we allow.

And little Carter just gave a kick of exclamation!