Awaiting Easter

I LOVE Easter. I have always loved Easter. But Easter of 2006 made the day even more special-- because that was the day our precious baby boy came into the world. Weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz, he was born at 8:42 PM on April 16. So in a way, Moses gets two birthdays: one on Easter every year, and one on his actual birthdate. (Won't his siblings be jealous in later years?!)

Here is a portion of a letter I wrote in to a Christian radio station last year. It won a contest on "What Easter Means to Me":

...So why is Easter special to me? Two words: NEW LIFE. But “new life” on so many levels. Of course, it is the most important day of the year to me, because it is the day my Lord and Savior conquered death, rose from the grave, and saved us from our sins. Halleluiah—the Lord lives!

But “new life” on another level as well. Last Easter—April 16, 2006—Moses Obadyeah Smith, my firstborn, came into this world. For months, our prayer warriors had been praying that our baby boy would be born on Easter. My husband, who at the time was a worship minister at a church in [omitted], assured the worship team that they better be ready to lead without him, because we were confident that our baby boy would be born that day.

So I should not have been surprised when, at 4:00 Easter morning, I awoke in heavy labor. Afraid that I might be wrong and later humiliate myself when my husband didn’t show up for church on EASTER, we waited until 6:00 am until we went to the hospital. By then my contractions were very intense and very close together, and the nurses assured me that it wouldn’t be long.

Unfortunately, both the nurses and the doctor made a number of miscalculations (including his size—I started at 112 lbs, and he was alost 9.5 lbs!), and after 13 hours of incredibly intense labor, my precious baby boy became lodged in the birth canal for three hours. I am so thankful that this was my first child, because I had no clue that things weren’t going as they should!

But my prayer warriors—who by this time had dodged TORNADOES in order to be at the hospital—were praying fervently outside my door. And God did not let us down! Moses Obadyeah was born that night.

So I obviously cannot think of Easter without thinking of new life. It is the day God’s firstborn came back to life, and the day my firstborn was, by the grace of God, given life.

Easter sunrise (before the tornadoes!):

One proud papa:

Moses Obadyeah:

Moses the monster baby :) (my brother entitled this one "large and in charge" on his blog):

Easter-y Moses M&Ms (I had these baggied and in a cute basket in the hospital, and then forgot to hand them out-- so on the blog they go!):

One week later (on his actual due-date-- I still look 8 months pregnant! yikes!):