Rebekah's Story




    I wasn't real sure how to title this page.  Rebekah's story is my testimony as well.  You see, it all started in my heart.  Everyone has keys to their heart that they don't want to give up, that special area that God is asking for, and yet, its ever so hard to let go of.  Here's my story...and Rebekah's.  I hope it will not only be a blessing to the reader, but also make you take a close look at your own heart.

   My dream has always been to get married and have lots of children.   When I was sixteen, I told my sister that the worst thing that could ever happen to me would be if I got Endometriosis and couldn't ever have children.  Then I said the second worst thing that could ever happen to me would be if I had a baby and it died right after birth.  Little did I know that the biggest trial of my life was right around corner.
   I met my husband when I was 21 and we were married 6 months later.  We both had worked with children for years and loved them greatly.  We talked and dreamed of having our own, but as the years passed, my own arms were left empty.  My heart ached when I saw a newborn.  My ears heard every infant cry around me.  I cried myself to sleep many a night begging God to let me also be a mother, to have the pleasure of loving and caring for a child.  As the months slowly crept by and still I had no child, I began to feel as if it was my fault, as if I'd done something terribly wrong and that I was being punished for some unknown sin.  I apologized to God for everything I could think of and then some.  I told the Lord that if He gave me a child I would do anything for Him.  But God doesn't operate on a bargaining system. 
   For about four years, it seemed Heaven was silent, that my prayers were hitting the ceiling and falling back down to mock me.  But then, the Lord started speaking to my heart every time I would pray for a baby.  He would ask, "Could you still love me and serve me even if you never had a child?" At first I shoved the question aside, and kept begging, pleading, longing for a baby.  I felt that if I gave that area to God that He'd never give me my desire!   But, I couldn't hide from it forever, so I faced the question.  You might as well be honest with the Lord because He knows your heart anyway.  Nothing is hid from Him.  Could I honestly be happy and serve Him childless?  Without bitterness?  Without anger?  I couldn't answer.  I just couldn't let go of it.  I knew that God was asking for my whole heart, but I just couldn't let Him have that one special little key.  So I hung on, as tightly as I could, and I became more and more miserable.
   We finally decided that something was wrong, so we decided to go get me checked.  I'd been in terrible pain and I just couldn't take it anymore.  We scheduled an appointment and Andy took me in for some tests.  The doctor came in and examined me and I could tell by her face that it was not the news I wanted to hear.  I asked what was wrong and she said, "I can't be for sure without further tests, but it looks like you've got Endometriosis."  I remembered that conversation with my sister almost ten years previous.  I knew.  The realization hit me.  I asked her how bad and she said, "On a scale of one to ten, I would say you are about a nine."  I hesitated, dreading her answer, but then asked, "Is there a chance that we can still have children?"  She tried to sound optimistic as she replied, "I just don't know.  We'll know more after the tests."  She went out of the room, and as I sat there the Lords spoke to my heart once again, "You've been hanging onto a key that doesn't belong to you.  You have no control of this.  I'm the giver of life.  I give life and I take it away.  Can you still love me and serve me?"  I broke.  I gave in.  I began to cry as I gave Him that last key to my heart.  I told the Lord that I would love Him even though I may never have children.  As I wept, a lightness filled my heart.  I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.  I can't explain the joy of surrender!  Its the most wonderful, refreshing feeling I've ever had!  And there was no anger, no bitterness, only sheer joy in my heart.  God filled my heart with an ever greater love than I thought ever possible.  A love for Him.  I walked out of that hospital with a song of rejoicing in my heart, not tears of sorrow.  I had to go back in two weeks for surgery to correct my problem.  After the surgery, the doc told me that they couldn't find any endometriosis in there after all!  Not a speck!  I like to think that God operated before they had the chance to cut me open themselves!  :)
   My heart was at peace for the next few months, and I threw myself into my Sunday School class.  I realized that God HAD indeed giving me children...10 of them in fact, and I was determined to make the most of the time I had with them.
   Eight months later, to my great surprise and delight, I discovered that my husband and I were going to have a baby of our very own.   My dreams had come true!  God had given me the very desire of my heart!  We were ecstatic!  Nothing could go wrong now!  God had blessed us greatly!  My husband and I cried tears of joy and gave our baby to God the day we found out we were expecting.  We prayed that God would use this baby's life for His glory.  Don't pray that prayer unless you really mean it.  We found out firsthand what giving your child to God really meant.  And, I can honestly say, it was well worth it.  It is my desire that my children be used as tools in the Lord's hands. 
   At 18 weeks, we went to have my first ultrasound done.  I noticed a round "object" on the baby's tummy and commented on it to the ultrasound technician.  She seemed evasive and said that it was just part of the baby's tummy.  I had a uneasy feeling about it.  Now, I'm not an ultrasound expert, but it just didn't look right to me.  Andy and I left the doctor's office and headed home.  We were half way there when I got a call from the doctor asking us to return to the office because there was something on the ultrasound that she needed to discuss with us.  Now it was after 5:00pm so we knew this had to be important for them to call us back to the office after hours.  My heart was pounding and I was feeling sick.  We went in and sat down.  The doctor said that our baby had what is called and Omphalocele.  It is when the intestines traveling down the umbilical cord do not go all the way into the tummy cavity.  Instead they pool in the cord creating a balloon right above her tummy.  This was the "round thing" I saw on the ultrasound.  The doctor told us that if that was the only thing wrong, then it could be fixed with lots of surgeries and months in the hospital.  The problem though, was that most of the time, when a baby has an Omphalocele, he also has other serious problems as well. Now, I can't even begin to describe the thoughts that were racing though our minds.  I can't tell you the sorrow that was in our hearts.  We cried all the way home.  I was in shock!  Its not easy getting that kind of report from the doctor.  My heart cried out to God, "What is happening to us?  Why, God!?  Why this??"  Our doctor sent me to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville for further testing and monitoring of our situation.  Month after month we went for more ultrasounds, and every visit brought more bad news.  By the time I was 7 months along, we knew our baby didn't have a chance at life.  I'll never forget that visit when we were told that our baby girl was going to die.  Its times like that that life hits you in the face.  People have a tendency to live like trouble, sorrow, heartache, death is another world.  It would never happen to us.  We live in sort of a fantasy world of comforts, family, work, vacations, friends, parties, and never once give real LIFE a thought.  Until reality slaps you in the face.  We felt numb, like we were trying to walk under water.  I felt like I'd just aged 20 years.  A weight settled on our shoulders.  Such a burden that I can't describe!   There was absolutely nothing we could do.  We were completely helpless when it came to helping our baby girl.  That's not a fun feeling for a parent!  Sadly enough, its times like that, when you are at the end of your rope that you realize just how much you need God.  Oh, if I could only tell you the joys of His presence over the next several months!
   Rebekah Joy not only had an Omphalacele, but also 7 deformities of the heart, and Trisomy 18 (the severest form of Downs syndrome).  I wouldn't recommend this, but I Googled Trisomy 18 to read more about what we were facing, and I couldn't believe some of the pictures on there.  Later I realized another blessing of the Lord in our lives.  Most of the pics I saw of babies with this syndrome where all but unrecognizable as babies.  They were so badly deformed that you couldn't even tell what their face looked like.  I cried as I wondered just what our baby would be like at birth.  I knew I would love her with all my heart despite her deformities. 
   When the doctors told us that she wouldn't live, they offered us the choice to abort.  Now THAT made me mad!  Of course I wasn't going to abort this baby!  She was ours and as long as she had breath, there was hope!  The doctors kept telling us, "You DO realize she won't live anyway, don't you?" And we kept telling them that miracles still happen and we're weren't giving up on our God!
   Through all this, Andy and I learned to lean on God more than ever before.  Oh the sweet times of fellowship we had with the Lord over those terrible months!  I lost count of how many times I read through the book of Psalms!  What great comfort can be found there!  Andy told me that no matter how bad it got, we were NOT going to give up and quit on God.  I thank God for such a strong husband.  The devil couldn't shake him even with the death of our child!  And oh how he tried!  The nights of tears, going over it all in our minds, the questions that plagued us, not knowing just how bad her situation was or how long she'd live after birth.  The doctor's told us that she could live mins or hours, but not days.  She was fine in the womb, but when she was born, she would have trouble breathing, and her heart wouldn't be able to work properly.  My husband and I gave our baby girl to God again and this time, we asked Him to use her death for His glory.  That's a hard thing to pray.  Its a hard thing to face.  I cherished those months of pregnancy.  They were all the time I had with my child.  There was no complaining over a aching back, or the constant morning sickness.  It was a privileged to me and I treasured every kick, every movement.
    It was about this time that Andy and I went to Texas to a revival meeting.  A family got up to sing who had a teenaged girl with Downs syndrome.  She couldn't sing at all, but she tried.  She'd gotten saved just a couple weeks before and she was so happy.  God spoke to my heart and said, "Do you love me like she loves me?"  I couldn't answer that.  Who could?  We think too much of ourselves too many times.  I knew that in her childlike mind, she greatly loved her Lord.  There was no pride in her.  The next night of the meeting, a young man who I've known for years got up to preach.  He was a cripple, with back and hands twisted.  And yet, God had given him the amazing talent to sing and play any instrument he picked up!  As I watched this humble man begin to sing with the touch of God on him, the Lord once again spoke to my heart, "Do you love me like he loves me?"  I broke and began to cry.   No, I didn't.  How many times have I been ashamed of my Lord?  How many times have I let my pride keep me from doing what I was supposed to do?   I cried and repented.  How I wanted to love Him like that!
  A month later, Andy and I took some young people from our church to Youth Camp.  One night, the guest preacher preached on how God loved us so much he sent His son to take our place at Calvary.  I was sitting in the back weeping inwardly.  My heart was on my baby and I was only half listening.  I prayed, "God why?  Why is this happening?"  The Lord spoke to my heart and said, "I loved you so much I gave my only Son to die for you and you didn't even deserve it.  Now, can you love me enough to give your only child to me?"  That's when I knew what God was trying to do in my heart.  It was so beautiful!  God was working on me, purging me, trying to mold me into something that could be used for his glory!  I cried so hard I had to get up and go out.  But they were not tears of sorrow.  They were tears of pure joy!  What a beautiful picture of God's love!  I couldn't wait to see what God was going to do!  And I also knew that Rebekah would die.  Somehow I knew that God was not going to heal her.  But that was okay.  She belonged totally to Him now.  He had the keys...ALL of them.  And Oh, how I loved Him! 
    As the time for my delivery drew near, Andy and I sought the Lord like never before.  We knew we would need His great strength to make it through the trial of our lives.  We had given the baby a name as soon as we knew it was a girl, and we also sang to her and read scripture to her every night.  I also played classical lullaby's to her via ear buds taped to my tummy.  She loved music and would respond to it, and also to us calling her name and talking to her.
    The doctor didn't want me going past my due date, so I went in and they induced me.   I labored for many hours without any progress.  The baby was beginning to stress so it was decided to take her via emergency cesarean.  The operation went smoothly, though I could feel the tension in the room.   There were people everywhere waiting to whisk Rebekah away to the NICU.   She didn't cry when they pulled her out.  A nurse briefly held her up for me to see her before rushing out the door.  Now I can't explain how this happened.  I always knew she would have dark hair, and couldn't wait to see it.  When the nurse held her up, I noticed she had a head full.  Her mouth and eyes were wide open as she looked at me.  She was beautiful and seemed okay to me.  I saw no terrible outward deformities.  I relaxed.  Later I asked Andy if he'd gotten a picture of her as soon as she was born.  He did, and showed it to me.  He'd taken it as soon as they had pulled her out and layed her on the table for cleaning and wrapping.  After seeing it, I told him he had to have taken it after they got her to the nursery.  He was adamant that it was before they took her out of the operating room. You see, when that nurse held her up for me to see, Rebekah had no tubes or IVs in her, and she had no hat on.  I saw her mouth open and I saw that head full of dark hair.  The picture showed Rebekah wearing a hat and tubes and IVs in her arms and mouth.  God blinded my eyes to all that so that I could rest without worrying too much.  It was a miracle.  This was only the first of such things like this that happened over the next several days. Another miracle was that, with all the problems she had, the only outward deformities were her Omphalacele, a clubbed foot, and eyes that looked Downs. 
    The meds and trauma of the whole thing, and months of anxiety had just about done me in.  I slept for about 2 hours, but as soon as my eye opened, I told Andy that if he didn't find me a wheelchair, I was climbing out of that bed, c-section and all, and going to find my baby on foot!  He found one!  The Children's hospital and NICU was down a 1/4 mile long hallway from the main hospital.  I couldn't hardly keep my eyes open during the ride there, and actually don't remember much about it.  I do remember seeing Rebekah for the first time though.  Yes, I now saw the little pink and blue striped hat, and the IV's and the breathing and feeding tubes in her mouth.  I said her name and she turned and looked at me.  My mother's heart melted and I longed to scoop her up into my arms and carry her far away from there.  But I could not.  I couldn't even hold her yet. On the long trip back to my room, Andy had to hold me upright in the wheelchair.  I kept passing out from exhaustion.  I slept that night.  The next morning, I was ready to go see my baby again.  I was again wheeled down there and spent the morning holding and talking to Rebekah.  I loved her dearly and would have given my life for her many times over.  I had to go back to my room for meds, but nothing else could keep me away.  I didn't always have the option of a wheelchair, so I walked that hallway many time that day, back a forth.  Oh it hurt, believe me, but I had to be there with Rebekah.
   Sunday morning they moved Rebekah to the nursery in the main hospital so that she would be right around the corner from my room.  I spent the day there holding her.  She never cried because of the tubes.  She just laid there looking at us as we talked to her.  Sunday night, she was moved to our room along with all her IV's and tubes.  The doctors told us that it was time to make the decision whether or not to pull her tubes.  That has got to be the hardest thing for a parent to decide.  It was as if we held her life in our hands.  When we pulled those tubes, we also took her life from her.  But, we knew that she didn't have a chance.  We knew that she would be better off in Heaven.  She would be made whole and perfect again.  We knew we really didn't have a choice.  If there was the slightest chance of her getting well, we would have gone to the ends of the earth to find that chance.  But there was none.  So Sunday night, we pulled her tubes.  A Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep photographer came afterwards and spend a couple hours taking pictures of Rebekah, some with her tubes and some without.  We didn't know how long she would have after the tubes were pulled.
   I spent the long night holding her, staying awake for fear of missing her last breath. I hadn't slept or eaten since Friday night.  I couldn't get food past the lump in my throat.  My whole being was wrapped up in that tiny 4 lb. 12oz. bundle in my arms.
   Monday morning dawned bright.  I sat and held Rebekah.  My feet and legs had swollen terribly overnight from all the walking I'd done and no rest.  Its amazing what you can do when you set your mind to it though.  :)  But actually, I give ALL the credit to God.  He held us up that week.  He gave me amazing strength to sustain me through those long nights.  Monday afternoon, Rebekah had her first heart attack.  She turned blue and stopped breathing.  Her heart rate dropped to almost nothing and she went rigid in my arms.  I screamed for the nurse.  Andy had stepped out of the room, so I grabbed my phone and called him, telling him that she was going and that he needed to get back as fast as he could.  The nurse checked on her and sadly told me that it was starting.  Her heart was beginning to give out.  This would be the norm until her little body just couldn't take it anymore.  I wept and begged God to let me see her smile before she died.  I had to know she was okay!  Oh, I knew she would be better in Heaven, but I had to KNOW!  That probably doesn't make sense to some.  I no sooner prayed that, then Rebekah opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling and smiled the biggest newborn grin I've ever seen.  As I held her, she glanced towards me, but I soon realized she wasn't looking at me after all, but at a spot behind me just over my left of my shoulder.   She grinned again, and began cooing and trying to talk.  She kept looking back a forward between those two places in the room as if she saw someone there.  I won't go into everything that happened over the next 45 min...you'd never believe it anyway.  Rebekah finally fell into the most peaceful sleep she'd had since birth.  Now, a 4 day old baby just doesn't act like this!  You can't hardly get a smile out of them for weeks!  My heart was at peace.  As Andy and I watched her communicate with someone who only she could see, our hearts filled with an indescribable joy.  Oh, the presence of God was so real in that room that I felt that if I were to reach out, I would be able to touch Him!  Andy and I cried as the joy bubbled up in our hearts and overflowed.  I know this sounds crazy.  How could we be so happy when we're sitting here holding our dying baby?  The Bible says that  "...in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalms 16:11  We found that to be so true.  I believe we truly were in the presence of God and experienced that "fullness of joy"!  I'll never forget it!  It was like a little piece of Heaven on earth. 
   Rebekah continued to have heart attacks through Monday night and by Tues afternoon, they were getting closer together and harder on her.  She began to weaken visibly after each one.  I couldn't hold her when she would have one.  I'd give her to Andy and turn my face away.  I couldn't watch it!  Andy held her through every one, talking to her gently and singing to her while her heart stopped.  She would sneeze, and her heart would kick back in again.  By Tuesday night, sometime around 2 in the morning, I broke.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I begged God to take her!  I couldn't go on like this!  I had no idea how long this would last.  She had already proved the doctors wrong by living this long.  How many more endless nights of this!  It is a terrible thing to watch your child suffer and be absolutely powerless to help her or ease her pains.  
   My dad had come to the hospital Tues night and he'd been sitting in a corner of the room quietly praying through the long hours.  Now, my dad and I never really got along well during my teen years.  I was rebellious and dad was at a loss with how to deal with me.  Those years were not fun for either one of us.  I know I made life hard for him, and the constant fighting had made me miserable as well.  Let me insert this in here while I'm on the subject.  I have two half brothers, my dad's son's from a previous marriage.  Their mother had taken them from Dad years ago, and told him he'd never see them again.  Dad tried but to no avail.  He married my mother and my sister and I were born.  I saw the boys twice after that, the last time being when I was about 4 years of age.  So for 18 years, there was no communication between us and my brothers.  I didn't even know if they were alive, where they lived, or what had become of them.  The younger of the two, Terry, finally contacted us while we were in PNG.  We ended up taking an early furlough and was able to reunite with Eric and Terry.  There were some hard feelings towards dad that unintentionally kept getting hurt again and again. Terry finally told me that it would "take something drastic to get him to ever forgive dad, and that he would have to hear Dad give a public apology."
   So back to that Tuesday night at the hospital.  Dad watched me crying throughout the night.  Finally, he came to me and dropped to the floor beside me.  He hugged me and began to cry like I'd never seen before.  He begged me to forgive him for those years.  We made things right between us that night.  Dad held Rebekah for a couple hours and as I watched him gently talking to her through her attacks, I couldn't believe the change I was seeing in him.  It just wasn't like the Dad I'd always known.
   Wednesday morning dawned...it also being my 28th birthday.  I praised God for letting me be a mother for a week.  It was the best present I'd ever gotten!  My dream of motherhood had come true for one short week, but to me, it was everything.  Wednesday, I was exhausted.  The doctors said we could take Rebekah home, something we never thought would happen.  As I waited for all the paperwork to be taken care of, I held Rebekah.  As a tear flowed down my cheek, she reached up and touched my face.  Her little, skinny arm was so weak it was all she could do to hold it up for a few seconds before it fell weakly back to the blanket that was wrapped around her.  She was starving.  She didn't know how to suck or swallow, so the only thing she'd been eating was the little bit of milk I would get her to choke down through a dropper.  It wasn't enough.  She'd lost weight and was very jaundiced.  We loaded her up, and brought her home.  She still was having attacks, but we were learning to just wait them out.  With each one, we thought it would be her last.  As soon as we got home, we took her into the church. (We live right beside it).  We laid Rebekah on the altar and dedicated her to God.  I brought her into the house and showed her her nursery.  There wasn't much in it because I knew she probably wouldn't need it.  We made it through the day on Wednesday and I stayed home from church and continued my vigil.  My family decided to watch her in shifts.  I would take the first one from 9 to midnight, and dad would take midnight to 3, and so on.  I sat and rocked Rebekah.  I watched as she continued to glance over my shoulder, smile, then look towards the door, smile again, then sigh and relax.  I began to sing Beulah Land to her.  When I got to the line "There's just a few more days to labor, then I will take my Heavenly flight", she opened her eyes, looked towards the door again and smiled.  Just out of curiosity, I sang the whole song again and when I got to that same line, she repeated her actions!  I knew this was the night.  I tried to get her to rest, but she wouldn't close her eyes.  Instead she just looked at me while I sang and talked to her.  Finally, I told her that it was time to go.  That "they" were waiting to take her to her Heavenly Father.  I told her I loved her, but that she needed to go now.  I woke Andy, and told him that she was going fast.  He held her and we sang her special song to her.  Andy had told her in the hospital that when she sees her Lord, the first thing she must do is bow before Him because He's the only reason she's allowed in.  He is her Lord and Savior!  As we watched, she opened her eyes one last time, smiled, then was carried away to the waiting arms of her Heavenly Father.  She no longer was in pain.  She was whole and perfect.  It was over.  It was 11:57 on my birthday.  Later I noticed something about that date.  You see, I was born Sept 23 of 82.  I got saved and accepted God's Son, His love gift to me, on Sept 23 of 92.  Rebekah, in a way was my love gift to God, died on Sept 23, 2009.  That date will always have a very special meaning to me. 
   Andy laid her in the tiny white casket and we held each other through the night.  I couldn't sleep.  Instead, I clutched Rebekah's blanket to my heart and prayed that if it be the Lord's will, He would fill her blanket once again.   Thursday evening was visiting hours here at church.  I was done, though.  I prayed and begged God for strength to go on.  We had the funeral to get through.  That night, as people began to show up, it felt as if it were just another church service.  I can't explain it very well.  I was pinching myself thinking that maybe it was all a dream.  Why was I not crying?  I was talking and laughing with people, showing them Rebekah's pictures.  Hardy the attitude to have at funeral visiting hours.  But it is the way I hoped for.  I didn't want it to be somber.  No, she was okay now.  She was in a better place.  She was not hurting anymore.  I felt like I was literally being carried, like it wasn't even me who was doing the walking, talking, moving, etc.  I kept thinking about that poem, Footprints, where in the hardest time when there were only one set of footprints in the sand, it was then that the man in the poem was being carried by the Lord.  I was being carried.  I'd gone almost a week without food or sleep, after having major surgery, and yet I was still on my feet!  God was holding me up!  There's no other explanation for it. 
   Friday morning.  The funeral was set for 10 am.  We went to the cemetery after the service and Andy and I watched our baby girl being lowered into the ground.  My dad did the grave side service.  He said that he was proud that all his children were there, even his two boys.  He said that he'd not been the father he should have been and publicly apologized to them.  I glanced over and caught Terry's eye.  We both remembered.   It had to take something drastic...like a baby dying.  And he had to hear dad give a public apology.  Little did he know that it would be at a funeral!  And it had to by MY baby too.  You see, Terry and I were close.  It had to be my baby, something that would soften some hearts.  And yes, all those broken relationships are completely healed now.   Terry told me later that on the way home, he tried to find that old hate in his heart, but there was none.  It was gone!  Like a weight had slid from his shoulders.  God once again answered our prayers.  He used our little girl's death for His glory in mending our broken family...something that no one ever thought would happen.
   Andy and I also found out what it was like to be part of the family of God.  We found out that we had friends we didn't even know we had!  They were there for us, supporting us, holding us up in prayer.  I got letters from people in Germany, Africa, Australia, New Guinea, the Dominican Republic, England and many many places in the US letting us know that we were in their prayers.  This is what got us through those months of trial!  How can people go through something like this without the Lord???  I can't even imagine it!


   This is my story.  I learned about the Love of God through the death of my own precious child.  How could God give his only Son to me?  How could He watch him suffer and die for someone so unworthy and so ungrateful as me?  And yet, it was love that made him go to that cruel cross!  Love for me.  I now know the love a mother has for her child.  I now know what it is like to watch that child suffer.  But I didn't have a choice.  I wouldn't have let it happen for someone else if I had a choice in the matter.  No, God gave His son for me because He loved me.   Such a wonderful, beautiful Love!  And yes, I have grown to love my precious Savior even more after the trial than ever before.  God has been so good to us!  How can I complain about His plan?  His grace is sufficient to carry you through the worst trial!  His mercy is everlasting.  And His great love is beyond explanation!  Yes, now He has my WHOLE heart!  I have learned that God can turn your worst tragedies into your greatest blessings if you will let Him.  And no, God didn't make a mistake when He made Audra.  She wasn't an accident.  She was special.  She had His fingerprints on her.  I believe handicap people have a very special place in God's heart.  They are very, very special!  God made Rebekah special in order for her to accomplish a very special job.  She was a precious tool in His hands. 


   After Rebekah died, Andy prayed that God would give us another baby to hold before my next birthday.  Christian was born exactly a month before the anniversary of Rebekah's funeral.  God has also blessed us with another daughter as well.  I'd prayed that God would fill Rebekah's blanket again, so needless to say, Audra was wrapped in that special blanket as soon as she was born.  Yes, God has blessed me far beyond my greatest dreams!   How can we not love and serve Him? How can we not give our very best to Him?  There's no greater joy than serving God with you WHOLE heart!   It may come at a at a price, but if you are willing to pay that price, OH the blessings He will pour out on you in return!  He will make the sacrifice well worth it!  Don't hold anything back from Him!  Give him ALL the keys to your heart.  Oh taste and see that the Lord is GOOD!!! 













1 comment:

  1. Hi Joanna, I just happened across this blog entry, your sister shared the link. My brother and his wife had a son born with Mosaic Trisomy 13 back in August of 2014. So far the baby has survived, but will face many challenges. Thanks for sharing. God bless.

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