Sarah and Noah

Einstein's bagels complete with shmear. Mocha lights with caramel drizzle hand-crafted by green-aproned baristas. But the common denominator every time? Comfy, oftentimes cushy chairs. Because when I hung out with Sarah, I wanted to take it all in and I never wanted to miss a thing.
I first met Sarah when she was in 8th grade. And she's one of those precious, sometimes reserved, thoughtful, hilarious, deep, cares about others with everything that's in her kind of people. She oozes sweetness and hilarity on a regular basis. And over the following years I had my life sprinkled with Einstein's and Starbucks dates where I got the extreme privilege of listening to her process life around her. And I loved it.
Even though we'd like to press pause, life keeps going. And she graduated. And we changed churches. But one night I checked my facebook and saw in my inbox a little message from my sweet Sarah. I opened it up and instantly knew it was one of the bravest emails I'd ever read. Though the email was beautiful and risky, there were two words that would go on to dramatically change her life: "I'm pregnant."
I read those words and I just desperately wanted to wrap my arms around her and hold her in one of the biggest bear hugs of her life. I couldn't imagine what she was going through. I mean, I was TERRIFIED when I found out I was pregnant with Hannah, but I was married and a little older. But my precious Sarah, was dealing with this alone. And in the context of church - and if we Christians can be honest for a minute - I think we can admit that we don't have the best track record with handling this kind of situation. I just wanted to hold her for a minute and let her know we'd be here. We'd walk through this with her. Heck - if she needed a place to live even - we're here.
Turns out, a lot of people made me really proud to be a Christian. Sarah decided she really wanted to keep this precious baby, even though she knew a lot of thing were going to change. And some of the ladies at our former church put together one of the BEST baby showers I've seen. People bent over backwards to make sure this baby was welcomed into this world with everything he needed. And there was no guilt and no shame - at this moment, there was only support and encouragement. (And birthing stories...)
A few months later, Noah entered the world. A day after he was born I held him in my arms. (with a little Jayden brewing in my belly...) He was perfect and all kinds of precious. I looked at my precious Sarah - sure she had messed up, but because of how she wrestled through it all with God, she could see the extreme miracle she held in her arms.
How she did motherhood at 19 is amazing to me. I know it's been hard, and beautiful. And probably everything else in between. And as a matter of fact, you can read her thoughts and processings here... www.hurricanesarah89.blogspot.com It's almost as good as in person with a cup of coffee or a bagel.
Today I want to share some pictures of that beautiful boy that Sarah let me take! I think you'll be as smitten as I was. And as blessed. He loves his mommy and she loves him. And it's awe-inspiring. And please join me in saying happy birthday to Sarah today. Sarah, you are a precious lady and I am so glad that you AND Noah were born. I'm so proud of you.










There's so many others to choose from, but there's a start!