Filled with 4
I never thought of myself as earth mother in the making. You know the type. She speaks to her 6 children in quiet tones. This woman would never dream of using the television as a babysitter. She seems like she was born for the task of competent mother of many.
With the one daughter and then with the addition of a son, I understood what I thought being a mother would look like in my life. I assumed adoption was the way our family would grow and in that context alone I was a mother and my life was full. There was no need for any fertility tests. Then God decided to add blessing on top of blessing when I became pregnant with my daughter Jessica. By this time our shelves were already filled with books that would shed some light on this all important task. On Jessica's first birthday I remember clearly thinking that since she was so wonderful it might be nice to have another child. Nine months later I gave birth to Josh. I was now no longer just an adoptive mother who could be creative only in the raising of her children but God had allowed me to also be part of the creation process in the lives of my next two.
California was our home when we started our family with Laura and Christopher. When I was three months pregnant we moved back east to my home town in Salisbury, Maryland. Salisbury soon became the hometown of my daughter as well. We lived next door to my parents in a home owned by my mother. The next two years we were loved in many ways by the two who had given me life. It wasn't until many years later that I realized what a gift that time with my mom and dad was.
I had begun my third trimester of my second pregnancy when Steve was asked to work at a church in Lincoln, Nebraska. The temperature was over 100 degrees every day the week we arrived. I spent a good part of the week on the phone trying to find a doctor who would take me so far into the pregnancy.
Just like the first pregnancy, this one would be a c-section. It was scheduled for October 17 and my parents made plans to come. Instead of being two weeks late like his sister, the arrival of our son Josh proceeded like clockwork. When Jessica was born Steve bought a dried flower arrangement as he was rushing from one place to the next. This time a beautiful bouquet of roses covered the center of my bed when I was wheeled in from the recovery room. We now had 2 girls and 2 boys. Our family was now complete.
My parents stayed until after Josh and I came home from the hospital. On the day before they were to drive home, Daddy went out to get gas. It took him a very long time to find his way back. He never said exactly why.At some point Mom had told me about Daddy's momentary inability to recognize a good friend they saw during the trip to our house. I remember being puzzled by this but that was all. Little did I know this was only a foretaste of things to come.
Our children grew as we continued to do many things wrong and by God's grace many things right. Did you ever wish you could slow life down and focus on one relationship at a time? Life just isn't like that. The only reason we can continue to have our nose above water and swim in the right direction is because of the loving care of our heavenly father.
With the one daughter and then with the addition of a son, I understood what I thought being a mother would look like in my life. I assumed adoption was the way our family would grow and in that context alone I was a mother and my life was full. There was no need for any fertility tests. Then God decided to add blessing on top of blessing when I became pregnant with my daughter Jessica. By this time our shelves were already filled with books that would shed some light on this all important task. On Jessica's first birthday I remember clearly thinking that since she was so wonderful it might be nice to have another child. Nine months later I gave birth to Josh. I was now no longer just an adoptive mother who could be creative only in the raising of her children but God had allowed me to also be part of the creation process in the lives of my next two.
California was our home when we started our family with Laura and Christopher. When I was three months pregnant we moved back east to my home town in Salisbury, Maryland. Salisbury soon became the hometown of my daughter as well. We lived next door to my parents in a home owned by my mother. The next two years we were loved in many ways by the two who had given me life. It wasn't until many years later that I realized what a gift that time with my mom and dad was.
I had begun my third trimester of my second pregnancy when Steve was asked to work at a church in Lincoln, Nebraska. The temperature was over 100 degrees every day the week we arrived. I spent a good part of the week on the phone trying to find a doctor who would take me so far into the pregnancy.
Just like the first pregnancy, this one would be a c-section. It was scheduled for October 17 and my parents made plans to come. Instead of being two weeks late like his sister, the arrival of our son Josh proceeded like clockwork. When Jessica was born Steve bought a dried flower arrangement as he was rushing from one place to the next. This time a beautiful bouquet of roses covered the center of my bed when I was wheeled in from the recovery room. We now had 2 girls and 2 boys. Our family was now complete.
My parents stayed until after Josh and I came home from the hospital. On the day before they were to drive home, Daddy went out to get gas. It took him a very long time to find his way back. He never said exactly why.At some point Mom had told me about Daddy's momentary inability to recognize a good friend they saw during the trip to our house. I remember being puzzled by this but that was all. Little did I know this was only a foretaste of things to come.
Our children grew as we continued to do many things wrong and by God's grace many things right. Did you ever wish you could slow life down and focus on one relationship at a time? Life just isn't like that. The only reason we can continue to have our nose above water and swim in the right direction is because of the loving care of our heavenly father.
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