Chuckers

I mentioned a few days ago that I hadn’t shared birth stories before. I think the events of how your precious child came into the world are a wondrous thing, but what I really want to share is how God was working and moving in our lives at the time surrounding each of the births of our children. So, this will be spread over several posts, maybe consecutively, maybe not. We’ll see. Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start ;)

Nine years ago, in the summer of 2001, I met my husband. (Now, all the details of our dating/engagement/wedding are destined for another post and are a huge part of my testimony but this isn’t what I want to share today…) We started dating and it didn’t take long before we knew that we wanted to get married and spend the rest of our lives with each other. At that time I was pretty deep my sin. I’d been living on my own for a little while and my life truly reflected someone not under the authority of her parents, or God for that matter. But God was working in me… changing my heart.

The next summer rolled around and Graham and I were spending everyday together. Sometime in mid-June (sorry hunny, I don’t remember the exact day) we got engaged. We started planning our wedding. I decided I hated the job I’d worked so hard to get, so I quit. I moved back home to look for a new job and save some money before our big day. Two weeks after we got engaged I found out I was pregnant.

Now, Graham and I obviously had made some poor choices, but God is good. I’d been sick for few weeks, so sick I could hardly get out of bed. Finally I decided to go to the doctor. My parents were on vacation when we found out and the second they walked in the door my mom asked how my Dr. visit went. I wanted to wait till they got settled, but she wanted to know what he’d said. As soon as I told them my Dad’s face fell. Hands down the worst day of my life. To see that look on his face I will never forget. I’d let him down. His eyes became teary and without a single word he stepped outside. My mom followed.

My parents had every right to yell at me. But they didn’t. They came in and with a shaky voice my Dad said something to the effect of “We never know how good the Good is until we’ve known how bad the bad is. We are never too far for God’s grace to reach us”. We spent a while talking and shared with my parents that we thought God had chosen to put us in this place to bring us to the very end of ourselves. We were at a point where depending on Him was absolutely the only thing we could do. My mom cried. I cried. Due to past issues we weren’t even sure I would be able to have children. And here we were.

Needless to say the wedding date got moved up. Graham and I were married on August 31^st, 2002 and our precious Chelsea was born February 18^th, 2003*. I’m not looking forward to the day she figures out how to do the math. Not because I’m unwilling to talk about my sin because this event was a catalyst in bringing me to the relationship I have with Christ now, but because I don’t EVER want her to feel like she was a mistake, or the reason we got married. I pray (and trust) that when the time comes God will give me exactly the right words to say to her. She is precious and our sovereign God orchestrated every step of her existence and the timing of her birth for His perfect will. I feel like I was let off easy. I sinned and deserved a harsh consequence. Instead I was given grace, in the form of a precious little girl. One of the most amazing gifts I could have ever received.