Amelia's Moses Basket

Amelia now has a Moses basket.

I never saw the need or practicality of a Moses basket for Noah.

But for Amelia it just seems right.

It felt strange not to have a place prepared for her to sleep.

She does, after all, have her own room in our house.

In it, she has the perfect white little girl nursery furniture

Dresser, armoire, nightstand…

I had been waiting to buy her a crib and glider

until I had the ultrasound results confirming what I was sure I already knew…

..that she was the daughter I had prayed for.

She is.

Tim thought I was crazy-I’m sure of it.

He might still think I’m crazy getting a basinet basket for a baby
that will never be sleeping anywhere but in her parents arms,
but the name Moses basket gives me a certain peace.

Looking ahead I am anticipating the moments where I will have to let go
of her earthy body;

hand it over to our funeral director

hand her over to a transport service
hand her over to God.

I hope in those moments I will feel God at my side.

I hope that I will see her in her Moses basket,

and remember to trust, as Moses’ mother did so many years before me,

that God will keep my baby safe,

and that his plans for her life are so much larger

than her mother could ever envision.

Exodus 2

The Birth of Moses

Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the Hebrew babies," she said.

Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"

"Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”