I’ve had the privilege to grow in life with my dear friend Abryanna, and once her and Brady married, with him as well, and now baby girl who is very soon to come. I got to sit in an ultrasound, where we found her resting, curled inward with her little hands over her face. I longed to fully absorb the gift of formation, the fingerprints God is not afraid to leave all over the creation of new life. Baby girl has been a redemptive source of purpose, a thread sewing together a collection of alters now blanketed across the home she’ll be born into. It’s pretty incredible being a friend in the deathly shadows, realizing the places of light alongside those you love. The further we walk the more we hold the duality offered to us: It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me. Hope formed in the womb of our imperfections.