It’s been a literal baby boom around the Flatirons offices lately. Like that long list of scheduled holiday arrivals at DIA this week, there has been a steady stream of baby arrivals amongst the Flatirons staff members and their families. We all know, Flatirons is a VERY fertile church…and it’s no more evident than with the staff right now.
To drive that point even further home, I just (quite literally) received an email confirmation of the latest arrival: Madeline Grace—the 7lb. 13oz. baby girl of first-time parents Serban and Brittany Maracine. Congratulations! Madeline joins the growing list of recent arrivals: Charlie Koehn, Smith Weingartner, Lucy Ochoki, Salem Wallace and Holt Terrell. As of this writing, the next arrival within the church offices should be Little Baby Yeager—scheduled for release sometime mid-February.
New parents. New babies. New experiences. New challenges. It’s all so very wonderful…and all so very temporary. Over too quickly. I can’t help it. I have a bit of a vantage point from my side of the fence now. It’s been a long while since we’ve had a baby in the Foote household. Our eldest, Ben, entered this world wriggling and squirming and covered in (what appeared to be) cream cheese over 26 years ago. Our daughter Katie tripped the odometer back in May when she turned 21.
And as the sun rose this morning, and the Maracine’s were cuddling and smooching little Madeline for the first time, I was dropping Ben (and his wife Ali) off at the airport to spend Thanksgiving away from us for the first time. It's going to be a little weird, but it's okay. Ben and Ali need to be with her parents and with her grandparents in Indiana this holiday. They are entering a new season in life, a season where you come to the realization that all of us…not matter what…only have so many Thanksgivings, and so many birthdays, and so many Christmases together.
So as this season begins for our new parents, I join in celebrating these new little arrivals...and I’ll watch with pleasure as they begin this beautiful, God-ordained dance we call “family”. King Solomon wrote about it best in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8…
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Time. There is a time for everything. And time is a gift, not a guarantee. Through Solomon, God reminds us to treasure our time…whatever season we find ourselves in. For all the new moms and dads at Flatirons, be encouraged. Now is a GREAT TIME! A time for cooing and a time for gurgling. A time for sleepless nights and a time for weary days. A time for Gerbers creamed carrots and a time for poopy diapers. A time for first giggles and a time for first steps.
It is a season.
And soon this season will end and give way to another season. A time for Little League and a time for Chucky Cheese birthday parties…which will only give way to a time for drivers’ licenses and a time for Senior Proms…and to a time for college loans and a time for weddings…and a time for…well, you get the point.
Welcome Madeline. Serb and Brit (and all you others)…enjoy this time.
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