The feeling of being almost 15 weeks pregnant is similar to the feeling I get right after eating Thanksgiving dinner. I just want to lay on the couch with my pants unbuttoned and take a nap…after eating one more piece of pie.
And I feel very thankful.
I have been feeling closer to Mary, Our Mother, more than ever.
The other day, I read through Mary’s Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. Reading the Visitation through the eyes, mind, and soul of a pregnant woman gave me a completely different perspective on the event. Mary must have felt so nervous to explain her situation to Elizabeth. On her long journey to see Elizabeth, she likely thought, “How am I going to tell her? What will her reaction be?”
When she arrived, she didn’t need to explain anything. John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth’s womb, and Elizabeth exclaimed, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. “
Filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit, Mary went on to proclaim the Magnificat. Luke 1:39-56
The best word I can use to describe the Visitation is joy. Elizabeth was joyful, Mary was joyful, and even John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s womb was joyful.
Although my situation is different from Mary’s, (I am not carrying the Savior of the World, although I do believe our child will do great things-ha!) I was very nervous to share the news with my family and friends. I expected to answer a lot of questions. Was this planned? Why so soon?
But, as you will see in the video clips, no one asked any of the questions I anticipated. Rather, the rooms were filled with joy.
See our families’ joyful reactions in the three clips below. In the last clip, my brother and sister-in-law had devised a poem after the dinner prayer on Christmas Eve to announce their pregnancy and our pregnancy.
It’s amazing how much love and joy a new life can bring.