I have been gone awhile...huh. Well I am back, and with a good story to boot.
Awhile back I put as one of my status updates on facebook that I had the privelege of watching first hand as obedience turned into blessing for someone very dear to me. I couldn't say anything for many weeks, but my cousin (more like a sister to me) Jess is finally pregnant! They have gone through years of infertility and pregnancy loss and have tried almost everything in the book. About a year ago, they felt called to stop medical treatment for infertility and to just trust that God would supply a child for them. They didn't feel that everyone who is struggling with infertility should do this, just that God was calling them on a personal journey of trust. To be honest, the night Jess told me that they were stopping everything, I cried. I feared that she would never get to feel a baby kicking in her womb. But I tried to be supportive and I certainly prayed my guts out. They stopped everything. One year later, 12 more months of negative pregnancy tests...and they finally got a positive. But there were many months in between that her and I sat on the phone and inevitably ended up in tears. Last fall I was just sure I was pregnant and I called to tell her that I had begged God to give her a child first because it hurt to think about being pregnang with my third while she was still waiting for her first. She was so amazing...encouraging me and uplifting me inspite of the fact that I thought I was pregnant and she knew she wasn't. But alas, I wasn't pregnant either. But I kept praying...that Jess would get pregnant before I and that we could travel this pregnancy journey together.
In mid-april Jess asked me to stop by her house as she had some things for my boys. I knew way before I got there what she really had. And sure enough...she had a card with a date in December for me. Her due date. Elated, grateful, overwhelmed with emotion...you name it, I felt it. And we had peace. Her faith is so amazing, I just have to tell you. She was not afraid of miscarriage...even though she had endured it before. It is as though she knew in her heart that God was going to give them this baby for good. And I knew I wasn't pregnant. We had been trying some months more than others, for almost a year at this point. But getting Jess' news was almost like God whispering to me..."I am into the details." "I knit a child together in the womb...I know every hair and every eye lash...I am capable and loving and good." "Be patient."
A few weeks back at my Grandparent's 65th anniversary party, Jess and I wanted to honor them with a tribute. My grandma, specifically, is one of the most amazing people anyone would have the opportunity to meet. I would like to share the tribute with you:
Eveline grew up in Nottingham, England. She was the picture of beauty…everything any man could ever want in a young woman. At the young age of 17 she was known around town as gorgeous…but also as upright and good, kind and fun. She had an amazing sense of adventure about her, and her sense of humor matched perfectly. It is no surprise then, when American soldier, Raymond Struble met her that he asked her to marry him the very first date they ever went on. She happened to say no. At least that night. But he was ever so persistent. She was quite the catch, and as they spent more time together, Ray noticed that. In fact, he was currently engaged to a woman here in the states. But after he met and got to know Lynn, he had to break off his engagement and ask Lynn to marry him for real…or maybe it was the other way around…he asked Lynn to marry him and THEN he broke off his engagement 
.
.
They were married a very short time later, on May the 28th, 1945, by Vicor Marshall at 10am. Grandpa can’t remember much these days, but that date and time are some of the only facts he can still consistently remember every time you ask him. I think that speaks to the fact that he knows that was the best decision of his life, and the best day of his life.
Because Ray was still in the army at the time of their wedding, he was sent back to the States and Grandma could not follow for one year. So the first year of their marriage they were separated by an ocean. But eventually she was able to get her residency and she boarded a giant army boat and sailed across the Atlantic by herself…and did I mention that she was barely 18 years old?
There are many stories of the early years of their marriage. One of the most infamous has to do with Grandma learning the differences between British English and American English. One day when Ray (a bus driver at that point) drove his bus by their house, Grandma ran out to wave at him. He waved back and honked his horn. Except in British English the words were a little different. So when Grandma excitedly ran back into the house to exclaim to Ray’s sister and mother what Ray had done, she said this: “Ray papped his hooter at me! Ray papped his hooter!” Mom and sister stared at her like she was from another planet and then began laughing so hard that they were crying. Grandma has changed much of her accent but she still has bits and pieces of it after all these years…and I think all of us have fallen in love with the way that she talks.
Ray and Lynn went on to have 6 children. Grandpa likes to tell everyone that they had FIVE boys and one girl! It is true…the male genes run strong in this family! Rodney, Vern, Sally, Dennis, Collin and Travis grew up in this very house and went to that school right back there. They have a million and one stories of dogs and ponies and the pool that they can share with you if you ask them. But life was not without tragedy for this family. When Vern was only 18 he was in a car accident that took his life. While many couples don’t make it through a grief like that, Ray and Lynn did. They still regularly go to his grave site to honor him with words and flowers. And still to this day Grandma can’t voice his name without tears filling her eyes. The woman loves her children. And pours herself out for them. They all know that, even now. A better mother, who could find? Grandma always said that of her mom. And my mom (Sally) always says that of her mom. And I now say it of my mom. There is certainly a legacy of love and devotion in the mother that Lynn has been.
The years passed quickly, as they always do. Before they knew it, grandkids started rolling into their lives. They were active grandparents, loving their grandkids to the greatest degree. I know for me, I could share with you a million and one memories of playing school with Grandma, having tea time, talks we have shared over warm milk and cornflakes. For my sister, she has fond memories of grandma chasing after her around the kitchen on a broom stick pretending to be the wicked witch and always letting Brenn be the good witch. I remember when she would drive Jess and I to preschool we used to play this silly game where she would tell us that she forgot her head or her keys or even her car. And Grandpa, he was the kind of grandpa that was just stable to be by. We always knew that he loved us. He worked so hard to keep his pool clean for us to swim in each summer, and you could see the joy in his eyes that it brought him to hear us playing in there summer after summer after summer. In fact, just the other day I told him that my son learned to swim in his pool last summer and it still brought tears to Grandpa’s eyes.
They are incredible individuals, but it is their loves story that is most inspiring. Last year on my 7th wedding anniversary I received a call in the morning that Grandpa had had a heart attack. Usually my mom is right here…taking care of them to the slightest need. But this day she was on a plane coming back from a work function in Florida. So I tried to step in for her. I spent my anniversary in the hospital while my husband stayed home with our children...and you know...in many ways, it was the best anniversary gift I have ever been given…because I witnessed something absolutely awe-inspiring that day. I have always been in awe of how my grandma loves my grandpa, but that day I got to see that love become tangible once again. The way she tucked him in, the way she fed him, worried about him, talked to him, wiped his tears. But the most precious conversation of the day went something like this: Grandma said, "Ray, you are being awfully quiet, what are you thinking about?" Grandpa, looking at her lovingly, said: "You, dear, I am thinking about you."
Grandpa was in and out of lucid thought all day. He was doing pretty well that afternoon, and then around dinner time he seemed to take a little dip back down, at least mentally. But somewhere in the midst of it, he had the clarity of mind to love her the only way he could at that moment, by letting her know that even though he can’t always show it or even vocalize it anymore, she still consumes his mind and his thoughts and his senses.
Love goes through seasons. Seasons of marriage…new love, responsibility, children, letting children go, retirement, and late life. It changes and grows deeper and deeper until when you look at a couple such as my grandparents, who have been married for 65 years, and you have to wonder how one will ever survive without the other. The love is so deeply rooted...so strong that it can face any storm. So SELFLESS that nothing, absolutely nothing can destroy it. They have taught me the strength of a marriage vow: forgiveness, reconciliation, persistence, perseverance, FAITHFULNESS.
I have much to learn from them. And if they could get to this place, this beautiful self-sacrificing place of true love...then we can to. I am talking about deep, true, strong, selfless, pure, gentle, LOVE. After that heart attack incident, my grandparents set a goal for themselves: May 28, 2010. It will mark their 65th year of marriage. Last year, when they set this goal, Grandpa was 86, and undoubtedly weakening...and his mind has continued to deteriorate. But his heart is still there, and in the moments that everything works together just right...he can still look at her lovingly and say, "I am thinking of you, my dear."
And that makes everything worth it. Everything.
Grandma has taught us so much of what it means to be faithful and to never, ever lose hope. She has thaught us the importance of prayer and of listening to God’s leading. She has reminded us so many times of how God intended our faith to be like that of a child. She has lived that faith. Last weekend Grandma told me that she has been praying for Jessica and Dan every day. She told me with surety that God was going to supply something. To the world that may seem like nonsense, to speak with such certainty when a woman’s heart is at stake. Grandma knows how Jessica and Dan have longed for a child. How they have tried for years and ultimately, have chosen to step back and trust that God would give them the gift of a child if He chose, with no more medical or scientific help. A big leap of faith. A year has gone by. What Grandma didn’t know when she shared with me a week ago with such certainty that God was going to supply a child for Jess and Dan, is that He already HAS.
Grandma and Grandpa…we honor you today by introducing you to your 11th great grandchild, due December 15, 2010. Jess is already 12 weeks pregnant with this miracle baby!
And since God is into the details, He didn't stop there. Grandma knows how Kristen and I have grown up more as sisters than cousins. So we honor you today not only with the news that your 11th great grandchild is on the way…but your 12th too! Kristen and I get to share this pregnancy journey together as Jonathan and Kristen are also having a baby in February!!
So there you have it...my story. We are 7 weeks pregnant (and Jess is 13) and thrilled! I go tomorrow for an ultrasound and can't wait to see a little heartbeat fluttering away in there. And one more thing for the record: last time I was pregnant with Noah, two of my sisters were also pregnant. We were all due about 4-5 months of eachother, but we were all pregnant together. We had so hoped to accomplish that again....and I am pleased to say that I was pregnant for the final week of my sister Jen's pregnancy. So, in essence, we were all pregnant together again...and just didn't know...and all spaced the same 4-5 months apart. Crazy!
We are so so so thankful that our family of four, is becoming a family of five!
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