It was last Memorial Day when we had our first inkling that a new baby was coming. Linnea had flown from Florida to Michigan to attend her sister Birgitta’s wedding open house. And as we ran errands together, she surprised us with her lovely secret – that another baby would be joining us in January.

Fast-forward to summer when the 26 members of our family were together in Michigan. Linnea’s pregnancy had passed its half way mark, and she and Adam had learned the baby’s gender. Much to our happiness, they wanted to share it with us all. 

We planned a Reveal Party after dinner with a special dessert: a cake with either pink or blue frosting in the middle. Only the two parents knew what was inside.

Throughout the day the 12 grandchildren, ages 10 and under, eagerly anticipated the announcement. Boy or girl? Which team?

As the hours went by, the children shared their hopes with each other… boys rooting for blue frosting, girls for pink. And when the moment came, Linnea cut a plump piece of cake and lifted it to reveal — it was pink!

The girls broke into squeals of delight, the boys stood silent, and the adults got a good chuckle over both responses. But pretty quickly the 12 kids shifted from gender-focus to cake-focus. The rest of us, though, were thankful for a glimpse of what God was doing within Linnea, excited to know a little something about who he was creating.

It was God’s idea to establish 9 months as the time it would take for him to make a baby. Of course he could do this intricate work in an instant, but he chooses to take his time. Maybe it’s similar to the way he formed the first human from clay. I wonder how long he took on that project. My guess is…. 9 months.

These days God still takes his time forming babies inside their mothers. I like to think he enjoys the long, complicated process during that time when only he holds the secrets to who he’s working on.

Fast forward to January and the birth of our May Evangeline. At the time of the Reveal Party, we were thrilled to learn one fact about her: that she would be a girl. Now the whole of her has been revealed, and we know all kinds of things–-her name, the circumstances of her birth, what she looks like, and that she’s easy-going. But just think about how much God knows about her.

He sees her life stretched out from beginning to end and knows every emotion she’ll experience, what she’ll look like as an adult, who her friends will be, what interests she’ll have, whether or not she’ll marry or become a mother, and everything else about her.

But though God sees it all, his Reveal Parties of new information will happen  only one day at a time. He has revealed one long-term fact about little May, though — that he hopes she’ll always trust him to take care of the life he’s given her.  

“It was You who created my inward parts. I was made in secret.” (Psalm 139:13,15)