Saturday, October 18, 2008
17 Years Ago Today
I became a mother for the first time.
I will never forget the overwhelming love I felt for this long prayed for child.
We had just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary a few months before. I never dreamed when we got married that it would take six years to have our first child. I was ready to be a mom the next day. However, that did not happen.
Looking back I can see God's hand in this timing just as I can see his Hand in so many other circumstances in our lives together. If our first child had been born any sooner I would have had to work and been unable to be the stay at home mom I longed to be. I would have HATED THAT. God's plans are always so much better than mine.
In many ways, from the outside looking in, it looked like the worst possible moment for us to be starting our family.
Dave's job in Boulder, Colorado was ending in a month (he had a 3 year apprenticeship at the University), I had been laid off from my job at the hospital, we needed to sell our house but the economic climate on that day was much like today's, depressed and people were weary. Our house had been on the market for 3 months without a bite. My husband had a PH.D in physics and had recently decided the world of academics was not for him. He was looking for a job in aerospace but there were hiring freezes on all over the place. He had many people wanting to hire him, but there hands were tied until the hiring freezes were lifted.
Things looked bleak.
New baby, no job, no money, can't sell our house. What could we do?
As I entered my last month of pregnancy I should have been full of anxiety about the future. However, this time of my life is very precious to me because isn't it through adversity that our relationship with God seems to grow the most? Yes, I was anxious and a little scared, but I really felt God holding me through this experience and reassuring me that everything would work out. Others commented on our strength during this time and how we seemed so calm about the future even with such uncertainty swirling around us. It was a very special time.
The decision was made, with much prayer involved, that we would move back to California at the end of October and stay with my parents until Dave could find work. My parents, as always, were more than willing to help us. I'm sure the fact that I would be bringing a wee one with me while we stayed did not add to their excitement about our arrival at all.
So, after a VERY LONG day of labor seventeen years ago today I gave birth to our first precious son. From the very beginning to this day he has been a complete joy to parent. I cannot imagine our lives without him.
A few hours after he was born I lay nursing him contentedly. Until it started to hurt. I couldn't figure out how to unlatch him from my brea*st. The phone started ringing. I tried to grab for it. Ouch! How do I get this kid to let go, I thought? Just then the nurse came in, grabbed the phone, and showed me how to put my finger in his little mouth to release the suction. She was probably thinking, "That poor kid, this woman has no idea what she is doing".
After she left I picked up the receiver she had laid next to my bed. Our realtor was on the other end of the phone. She had sold our house, and they wanted a quick escrow!
The next day Dave went to the airport in Denver to pick up my mom who was flying in to help me pack up the house and move. We had ten days to get it all done and be out of the house.
Our wonderful friends Brad and Kathy (Brad is our friend and also the minister who married us, our 12 year old daughters are now best friends) called from California to tell us Brad was flying in to help and was going to stay with Dave to drive all of our belongings (and our two dogs) cross country to our new home in California.
We never asked. Everyone should be blessed with true friends like this.
God's blessings continued a few days later when I was again nursing our son and the phone rang. Thankfully, this time, I had become a more experienced mom and could actually nurse and talk on the phone at the same time. The voice on the other end asked for Dave, he wanted to offer him a job. Dave had been talking to this man and this company for six long months. It was a job he really wanted and they really wanted him. Somehow they had found a way around the hiring freeze and they were offering him a great job, with good benefits and he could start right away. As an added bonus, the job was in California, the very place we had felt God telling us to go back to a few weeks before.
In four days we had been blessed with a son, our home had sold, our friends and parents had rallied around us to help, and a job had been provided for our family.
I said goodbye to all the wonderful friends we had made while in Colorado and boarded a plane with my mom and ten day old son heading back to my roots and family in California.
When Dave reported to his new job a week later he had to first go to the companies nurse for a physical. She told him that his was the first new hire physical she had done in FOUR YEARS and she had no idea how he had actually managed to get hired. It would be another year before the hiring freeze was actually lifted.
The nurse may not know how this could of all happened, but we do. God told me he had everything under control and to trust him. For the first time in my life I actually did that and watched him put the pieces of our lives together the way he wanted them to be. God wasn't going to let a little thing like a hiring freeze get in the way of his Will for our lives. What an awesome God we serve.
My husband still works at that job seventeen years later. Our son is almost a man. Those first weeks as a new mother were stressful and tiring and maybe not actually the way I would have planned them, but they are some of the best memories of my life. I would not change them for anything.
p.s. I'm sorry you had to get up early on your birthday to go and take the PSAT. I will make you your special breakfast tomorrow, I promise.
I will never forget the overwhelming love I felt for this long prayed for child.
We had just celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary a few months before. I never dreamed when we got married that it would take six years to have our first child. I was ready to be a mom the next day. However, that did not happen.
Looking back I can see God's hand in this timing just as I can see his Hand in so many other circumstances in our lives together. If our first child had been born any sooner I would have had to work and been unable to be the stay at home mom I longed to be. I would have HATED THAT. God's plans are always so much better than mine.
In many ways, from the outside looking in, it looked like the worst possible moment for us to be starting our family.
Dave's job in Boulder, Colorado was ending in a month (he had a 3 year apprenticeship at the University), I had been laid off from my job at the hospital, we needed to sell our house but the economic climate on that day was much like today's, depressed and people were weary. Our house had been on the market for 3 months without a bite. My husband had a PH.D in physics and had recently decided the world of academics was not for him. He was looking for a job in aerospace but there were hiring freezes on all over the place. He had many people wanting to hire him, but there hands were tied until the hiring freezes were lifted.
Things looked bleak.
New baby, no job, no money, can't sell our house. What could we do?
As I entered my last month of pregnancy I should have been full of anxiety about the future. However, this time of my life is very precious to me because isn't it through adversity that our relationship with God seems to grow the most? Yes, I was anxious and a little scared, but I really felt God holding me through this experience and reassuring me that everything would work out. Others commented on our strength during this time and how we seemed so calm about the future even with such uncertainty swirling around us. It was a very special time.
The decision was made, with much prayer involved, that we would move back to California at the end of October and stay with my parents until Dave could find work. My parents, as always, were more than willing to help us. I'm sure the fact that I would be bringing a wee one with me while we stayed did not add to their excitement about our arrival at all.
So, after a VERY LONG day of labor seventeen years ago today I gave birth to our first precious son. From the very beginning to this day he has been a complete joy to parent. I cannot imagine our lives without him.
A few hours after he was born I lay nursing him contentedly. Until it started to hurt. I couldn't figure out how to unlatch him from my brea*st. The phone started ringing. I tried to grab for it. Ouch! How do I get this kid to let go, I thought? Just then the nurse came in, grabbed the phone, and showed me how to put my finger in his little mouth to release the suction. She was probably thinking, "That poor kid, this woman has no idea what she is doing".
After she left I picked up the receiver she had laid next to my bed. Our realtor was on the other end of the phone. She had sold our house, and they wanted a quick escrow!
The next day Dave went to the airport in Denver to pick up my mom who was flying in to help me pack up the house and move. We had ten days to get it all done and be out of the house.
Our wonderful friends Brad and Kathy (Brad is our friend and also the minister who married us, our 12 year old daughters are now best friends) called from California to tell us Brad was flying in to help and was going to stay with Dave to drive all of our belongings (and our two dogs) cross country to our new home in California.
We never asked. Everyone should be blessed with true friends like this.
God's blessings continued a few days later when I was again nursing our son and the phone rang. Thankfully, this time, I had become a more experienced mom and could actually nurse and talk on the phone at the same time. The voice on the other end asked for Dave, he wanted to offer him a job. Dave had been talking to this man and this company for six long months. It was a job he really wanted and they really wanted him. Somehow they had found a way around the hiring freeze and they were offering him a great job, with good benefits and he could start right away. As an added bonus, the job was in California, the very place we had felt God telling us to go back to a few weeks before.
In four days we had been blessed with a son, our home had sold, our friends and parents had rallied around us to help, and a job had been provided for our family.
I said goodbye to all the wonderful friends we had made while in Colorado and boarded a plane with my mom and ten day old son heading back to my roots and family in California.
When Dave reported to his new job a week later he had to first go to the companies nurse for a physical. She told him that his was the first new hire physical she had done in FOUR YEARS and she had no idea how he had actually managed to get hired. It would be another year before the hiring freeze was actually lifted.
The nurse may not know how this could of all happened, but we do. God told me he had everything under control and to trust him. For the first time in my life I actually did that and watched him put the pieces of our lives together the way he wanted them to be. God wasn't going to let a little thing like a hiring freeze get in the way of his Will for our lives. What an awesome God we serve.
My husband still works at that job seventeen years later. Our son is almost a man. Those first weeks as a new mother were stressful and tiring and maybe not actually the way I would have planned them, but they are some of the best memories of my life. I would not change them for anything.
Happy Birthday son. I love you more than words can possibly
describe. I am so proud of your strong work ethic and the way you are not
afraid to go after what you really want. Remember to trust God
and seek HIS will for your life, he will not let you down. Your
father and I can't wait to see what your future holds, though we know there
will be sorrow along with joy. I thank God everyday for the privilege of being
your mother. Have a happy, happy, day son.
p.s. I'm sorry you had to get up early on your birthday to go and take the PSAT. I will make you your special breakfast tomorrow, I promise.
6 Comments:
my first child just turned 17 too! Surreal, isn't it? Stinks to do the PSAT on birthday, though.
What a great record of God's faithfulness to your family!
Hi Holly, I know what you mean. I can't beleive I have a kid that is that old. Seems unbelievable at times.
Thanks, Brenda, for your kind words. I had fun reliving that time in our lives.
Blessings to you both,
Julie
What a wonderful story and happy birthday to your son!
And, I agree, it totally stinks to have to take a test on your birthday!
WOW! What a story...you had me glued to it..God works so beautifully! (Jeremiah 29:11)
Happy Birthday to your son...hope he enjoyed his birthday breakfast THIS morning!
Happy birthday to your "baby" boy!
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