Seven months ago, Celeste came home one day and said that she wanted a little baby. I tried explaining to her that she has Hannah, but she wanted someone smaller than Hannah. She had Ahan, her cousin! He was younger than Hannah and they both loved him. 'No,' she said, 'a small little baby.' I said, 'fine' and decided to cut the topic.
The next day and the next, and for about a week this 'wish' of hers was replayed every single day until Ben and me just gave up and thinking this was the only way to get out of the situation, told her, 'Jesus gives babies, ask Him!'
That night, as Ben prayed with the girls, Sil prayed, 'Jesus, please put a baby in my mamma's stomach.' Ben, trying to control his laughter came and related this innocent little prayer to me. Amused by the simple words, I called my mom and sister and recounted the prayer to them. How sweet and innocent we thought.
About a month later, wanting to watch a funny movie, I asked Ben to pick a DVD. For reasons known only to him, he picked 'what to expect when you are expecting.' A nice movie. Just that something related so much that I felt the need to get a pregnancy test done. 'Impossible!' thought Ben. 'Not now,' I said, knowing that I had just cleared my 'trainer certification' rounds and was ready to begin work after the long long years of waiting. We picked up a pregnancy test kit off the shelf while we were out grocery shopping. The next morning, it showed positive. 'No!!!' I cried. 'It was not refrigerated, and it was not from a pharmacy, I'm sure it's not right,' Ben said, his confidence coming from the 'refrigerated kits' he had bought when we had to test for Sil and Za. A couple of days later, we tried the 'refrigerated kit' from a pharmacy. It only confirmed what the first kit said. The next few days were spent in tears...we had not planned for this!
But then, we hadn't planned for Sil and Za either. God had. This was Sil's desire coming to pass. The innocent prayer of a little child that was heard by our Living God.
Along the same time, I was going through some very difficult times of betrayal, backstabbing, slander and hurt. All the while, God kept telling me to stay quiet. 'That's not fair, Lord,' I thought. Show me you are on my side, that I am not condemned in your eyes. See, my reaction through that difficult time was fine, but now, when it was God's plan coming to pass, especially that I had to let go of my personal and career plans, how was I going to react? Yes, we did want a third baby, just not at this time, but a time convenient to us. God taught us that a time convenient to us may not be 'in His time.'
To see the joy on Sil's and Za's face as we shared about the new baby with them, was nothing compared to anything in the world. Sil was thrilled, Jesus heard and answered her prayer. It's been seven months, and I can't wait to hold the little one in my arms. None of us can...Ben's love for our unborn baby has only increased. He so intently watches the ultrasounds each time we go for one, like it's a miracle he's looking at. Sil and Za are expectant, their choices of a girl or a boy changing with the weather.
It doesn't matter - if it's a boy or a girl. It's God's will, it's His time and it's His baby. We are honoured to have being chosen by Him, by surprise, the third time around!!!
