...it is the year 2000, and we are the proud parents of a baby black labrador named Maggie. Maggie, like every rambunctious lab, was a handful. Picture a black Marley, and you've got a good image in your head. I'll never forget the day when I came home from work, and there was Maggie in her crated area of the kitchen with blue paw prints all over the floor! She had found and chewed a blue inkpad, and when she yawned? Her mouth was as blue as the guys from Blue Man Group!
In fact, having Maggie was so much like having a baby that I remember telling my husband, "You know what? This sealed the deal. I think I'm done having children now."
As the saying goes, when woman plans, God laughs.
Three years later, I was 36 years old and pregnant. Quite a surprise! I had a very healthy pregnancy, though, and all was well until the last week, when my blood pressure began to elevate and my ankles began to swell. The doctor sent me to the hospital that day, saying it was time to have this baby.
The day was September 11, 2003.
The doctor asked if I'd like to begin inducement that day. I declined. Ed and I did not want our child born on a day that was connected with so much sadness. We wanted our child born on September 12, a day of renewed spirit and strength.
Samuel was born on September 12, 2003. As the nurses later told me, he had a heartbeat, and that was it. His Apgar score was 1, and Ed said that he lay flopped on a table, with all limbs limp and blue, looking like a frog about to be dissected. Poor Ed. He saw much more than I did at the time, and he wept.
Sam was in NICU for a week, with tubes inserted into him. Neonatologists ran lots of tests, with nothing conclusive. They told us to prepare ourselves for the fact that Sam would have many problems in the future...learning disorders, developmental delays, the list went on.
They knew the size of our problem, but they didn't know the size of our God.
We named him Samuel, which means "Asked of God." We asked God for a lot with Samuel. And when you think of it, we asked God for a lot on that September 12 of 2001 also.
Our pastor came and prayed over us, and he spoke the words of Psalm 139 over Saumel. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Sam came home, and we loved him and nurtured him, as God intended. And you know what? Sam never had a developmental delay. He never exhibited a learning disorder. In fact, he's always been an overachiever.
Sam's birthday is a day of thanksgiving for our family. It is a day when we remind ourselves that our God is a great big God, and he has plans to give us a hope and a future.
Samuel had his first "friends" birthday party this year. The neighborhood boys came over for some Star Wars fun!
Of course, stamps, ink, and paper were in on the action!
We even played party games, like "Pin the light saber on Anakin"!
I had treat bags for the kids. I threw in a few of Beth's awesome bookmarks for Halloween that she made for the Pass It On company. (Sam was very proud to tell everyone that the mouse was named after him!). You can find these wonderful Pass It On products now in Christian bookstores. I plan on using them for the trick-or-treaters this year.
Thanks for visiting the cafe today! I don't know what your day is like, or what problems lay before you, but it's always good to be reminded that our God is bigger than we can imagine.
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