Have Basket, Will Travel

Little Sheep for my Little Lamb

Is it still a “Moses Basket” if her name is Lucy?

As many of you know, the Stuckey’s find themselves in what seems to be a very nomadic time in their life as a family. We are currently still waiting to hear back from several institutions on acceptance into their respective PHD programs. The list contains Duke University, University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University. At this time, none of these schools have made decisions and so, we wait. Some days we even wait patiently.
Those of you who are close to us have shared in the sometimes agonizing experience of not knowing where we will be in the next 6 months. I, personally have struggled with this much more than I have license to. I spent many weeks and even months at the beginning of my pregnancy in a state of frozen panic and some days even denial. Even in all of these doubtful times, I have never claimed to know what is best for our family. That is just it. We don’t know at this point. We know very little. We know Lance is graduating. We know he has a calling and desire in a particular field. We know that this calling requires that we try to go in a specific direction. We know that this direction requires that we may very well be moving somewhere where family is not. We know that we are going to be doing this very shortly after, our life changes drastically. We know we are having a baby. We know she is a little girl. We know her name is Lucy. Now we know that she probably does not and will not mind that her parents had no idea what her physical address would be just months before her birth. We may not even know several months from now. But more importantly, we know WHO knows the answers to these questions. We know HE loves her more than we ever could and HE knows that she needs a place to sleep and live just as we do. One day, we will look back on these times of uncertainty and hopefully we will be able to tell her that we trusted HIM and not our own wisdom. Because our wisdom is so very limited. And HIS is inexhaustible. HE is faithful.

Recently, we found a wonderful treasure in a “Moses Basket” for little Lu. I saw it and fell in love with it because it’s perfect for our upstairs, downstairs-apartment-maybe-moving very soon after she arrives-life. We were able to find a white wooden rocking stand for the basket and it will fit perfectly in a little corner of our room. As a mother, my heart was strangely comforted by this find. Yes, I know it’s just a basket. But perhaps it is the fact that no matter where we are in a few months, she has spot when she arrives. A perfect little, soft, cuddly spot to sleep and lay regardless of the temporary state of the rest of our house. She may not have a “nursery” for several months after she is born until we are somewhere more permanently– but she has her spot. And as strange as it may seem, I feel calmer somehow. I feel that we have at least made the immediate provisions for her arrival which we possible can. And it won’t really matter if her basket is completely surrounded by moving boxes. She will never know. And if any of you decide to tell her, make sure you tell her that she was well loved and looked after during this crazy and wonderful time. Bottom line: we desire that she knows how her parents were learning to trust God. One step, one day, one deep breath at a time.