(My friend Jennifer of Welcome to My Shoe has written a true Christmas story and I wanted to share it with you. Sarah)
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! SEASONS GREETINGS!!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I hope you are all planning as great a Christmas season as I am!
You know, I’ve been rather quiet this Christmas. I haven’t been a grinch by any means, but I haven’t been in your face merry either! Just quiet, preoccupied, if you may. However, with one stroke of chance, that has all changed.
Why? Good question! I was hoping you would ask!
If you have explored my blog in the last two months, you might know a bit about me and my family. I’m a wife and a strongly devoted mother to four beautiful children. I’m also pregnant once again with my fifth. This pregnancy however, is different. Our baby has been diagnosed with an extremely serious heart condition and has very little chance of survival. You can read more about what we are dealing with here and here.
So with all this on our plates, I must admit that some things have taken a back seat. My son’s birthday in mid-December for instance. While he did enjoy himself and, I don’t think, felt second place, it really wasn’t the huge bash I would have liked it to be. It is only three days left to Christmas and I still have gifts to buy for my kids. My Christmas cards are sitting on my table, still waiting to be mailed. Understandable? Perhaps. Not even totally unlike me. The biggest difference has been in how I feel about it all. For the first time ever, I have truly felt as though it wouldn‘t really matter if these things were done or not.
Then, completely unexpectedly, I received one of those unwrapped gifts that my title alluded to.
Before I go on though, I have to ask you. Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that there really are no chance encounters and that everything happens for a reason? I do. Since I first found out about our baby, I have been able to feel the loving presence around us, looking out for us, and protecting this family. I can look back and see things that happened months before I was even pregnant, getting us ready to deal with this situation. Now, I know I must have turned someone off with this little spill, but please continue to hear me out. I may just make a believer out of you yet. It is Christmas after all!
Earlier this week, I had one of the very few ‘regular’ Dr appointments I’ve had in recent months. Just a routine pre-natal check-up with my regular Dr. Very nice. Afterwards, I needed some blood work done, so I was in the waiting area, hoping the lab would call me soon as I was already late for meeting my sister for the afternoon. Besides, I was really hoping to be able to crash on her couch for a couple of hours!
I waited. And waited and waited. 15 minutes ticked by. I saw the lab assistant come out and go back with some papers. Good I thought! She’ll call me soon. More time went by. The lab tech came out again, this time coming back with a coffee and a cookie. I fidgeted. I turned my attention back to the family that had been entertaining the entire room full of people for the past half hour.
It was a father with three of his children. A 14m old boy, a real little terror (I say that affectionately!) whose favorite game was I’ll-run-you-chase, and his much older brother and sister who were all too happy to comply. The father was very much into the game as well and the time didn’t go by quite so slowly with them in the room. I found out later that the mother was seeing the Dr, as she is just days away from delivering their sixth child. By the time the lab tech had disappeared back into her room with her coffee and cookie, the toddler was getting rather cranky at not being able to find Mom. The father finally plopped him on his knee and wouldn’t let him run around anymore, which really upset the poor little tyke even more.
“Let me take him, I’ll watch him,” implored his daughter.
Yes, let her take him I thought, anything to sooth an upset little one. “No,” said the father. “He needs to learn to sit still sometimes too. What is going to happen after his surgery when he has a tube sticking out of his chest and he’s not allowed to run around?” Excuses, excuses I thought.
That’s when it happened. I actually spoke up and stuck my nose into someone else’s business between them and their child. Open mouth and out flows words. My Mom always did tell me that I had to start putting my brain into gear before my mouth into motion. Sometimes it is good to ignore our Mom’s, but don’t ever tell my children I said that!
“Oh he wouldn’t feel like running around after that!” I said.
“Oh you would be surprised,” he replied. “These little kids are hard to keep down. They can have open heart surgery and be ready to go home five days later.”
Well, I couldn’t help myself again. Could you have? I asked for the story and he was more than happy to share it with me and the rest of the room. Turns out his little rambunctious toddler, that fat, chubby little cherub with the quick giggle and faster feet, is one of five children in the world. He was born with a heart condition that makes our baby look like no big deal. I was in complete awe as he told the tale and my unbelieving eyes took in the now freed toddler running and around and wreaking havoc with the magazines he managed to snatch despite his sister and brother’s attempts to corral him.
Again I say, there are no such things as chance encounters. The beautifully pregnant mom came out just as he was giving me his business card with instructions to call and ask them anything we needed to know. Pictures too, if we wanted. Timing, timing, timing. Timing is everything.
My blood work? The lab requisition form had been misplaced. Would you believe it was found and I was out of there about five minutes after they left? I know that I was meant to hear that story and we would all have been sitting there until I did!
I soared for the rest of the day, the day after that, and the next day too. I’m still soaring and I will continue to do so. The realities of our baby’s situation has not changed, but I have. I now truly believe. The joy is fully and firmly in my heart once again, and it is hope that fills my sails. I’ve heard other miracle stories, but to see that perfect little child running all over the place, keeping everyone on their toes, made all the difference.
It was the best Christmas gift I could have ever received.
Jennifer
Merry Christmas! Sarah
