God can be so gracious at just the right time and in the most unexpected ways.  I have always felt blessed that though this is a very difficult time for us, at least He was so loving to give us two beautiful and precious gifts for us to care for, Hope and Nate.  This week His loving arms reached out to us through our children.

The other day Hope comes to Bill and I (Cheryl) complaining that her tooth hurt.  We asked her specifically where it hurt and she pointed to her bottom, center right tooth.  Mom does the test and guess what?  The tooth is loose, so she is on her way to losing her first tooth!!  Of course in some ways Dad and I are not looking forward to the day the tooth does come out because that means blood loss.  When she used to get nose bleeds, it was NOT a pretty picture.  I just hope that she will not react as badly as she did then.  We’ve told her that when she loses her tooth, Dad (Bill) will take her out for a special date to get frozen custard with rainbow sprinkles.  So we hope that will be a good distraction.  J

A couple of nights ago, our young adult pastor was over for dinner and to discuss Faith’s dedication service in the hospital room and the memorial afterwards.  I admit that talking about it was beginning to get to me when out of nowhere, right in front of us, Nate took his first steps!!  It was about 3-4 real steps and he just grinned the biggest grin while we were all clapping and praising him.

The Lord always knows when to give you what you need when you need it.  I asked him in the beginning to give me peace throughout the pregnancy so that Faith would not feel any stress while she is with us.  I know there will be more than enough time to mourn when she is safe in the Lord’s loving arms.  I am so thankful that my prayers and the faithful prayers of others were heard this week.