The Butterfly Story

In lia sophia, we always hear "butterfly stories" from women who've come from nothing, who now have more than they ever dreamed of. The original butterfly story goes like this:

"A man found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly. 

He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly. 

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are God`s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. 

If God allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Not only that, we could never fly."

So today as I take another day off work to digest the news and to recuperate from the poking and prodding, I decided to change the picture here to a butterfly. Because I'm going to be one. We're going to struggle, we're going to hurt for awhile, but in the end, it'll be a beautiful thing that emerges from the whole situation, no matter the outcome. (Can you tell I'm feeling more like myself today?)

As I eagerly await the results from our amniocentesis (painful, by the way) I'm reading more and more about in-utero surgery. I know it's going to be a long road ahead of me, but some pain and up to 20 weeks of bed rest seems to be worth it at this moment in my life. And a big thanks to my family and friends who are so supportive. Casey and I love you. And I'll probably need some of you to clean my house for me in the future, lol.