Let me just say, I believe God prepares our hearts for the unknown sometimes.
This story is one that makes me smile every time I think about it. Our God has such a sense of humor. I believe my mom and I sometimes can be the same person on the same wave length of thoughts. Now, she has way more sass and class, but I don’t try to compete with that. Anyways, I love this story.
Matt and I originally planned on waiting to tell everybody at 12 weeks that I was pregnant. We really didn’t know what to expect. If God planned on taking this baby home before he/she was born, we didn’t want to have to “untell” my pregnancy. Don’t get me wrong, if I miscarry, everyone will know. I will tell people how excited we are to meet our son/daughter in heaven someday, but for the first bit of the pregnancy, we wanted to play it safe.
After 6 days of knowing that I was pregnant, Matt and I really started to stress out about how we were going to afford a baby, how jobs and Matt’s schooling would work out and how we were even supposed to be parents! These questions started to become burdens that we were trying to bear alone and couldn’t. One night Matt and I were lying in bed talking future. It became apparent to us that we needed emotional, physical, and spiritual support. I suggested that we talk to my parents. I was already starting to feel the first trimester morning sickness and had no idea what was to come. I needed my mom to help walk me through some of these crazy issues that people don’t tell you about when you are pregnant (when you get pregnant, ask me about it, I will tell you the fun little secrets your girlfriends never tell you). Matt agreed it was time to tell our parents. Since mine live 8 minutes away, we decided to start with them. So that next morning, I tried calling my mom at about 7:00. I rehearsed the conversation in my head at least 29 times. She didn’t answer because she was working, so I just waited in anticipation all day. Finally, around 2 PM I see my phone ringing. I quickly step out of my office. If you know my mom, she talks 100 miles per hour with very few pauses. She begins to tell me all about her day. I listen as patiently as I can, waiting for the pause to break the news. After about 10 minutes, there was a small pause and I quickly told her I had big news. I could hear her sit down and take a deep breath. I began to tell her how I was pregnant and felt completely overwhelmed. She was awesome. I was afraid that there would be disappointment and concern, but she was thrilled and excited. She knew that it was God’s timing and His baby. That was her immediate response. She told me that Matt and I’s whole relationship had been on God’s timing and asked me if I had expected anything different (good point, Mom, good point). She walked me through different tactics to fight morning sickness such as saltines by the bed side, drinking lots of water, staying away from dairy, keeping small snacks at my desk, and sleeping as much as a can. She offered the exact words of encouragement I needed. She then proceeded to tell me that God had been preparing her heart for this. She said for the last two weeks she had been going to Central Market and seeing all of these stuffed animals. She didn’t know why, but she kept feeling inclined to buy them (10 if them to be exact). She told herself it was almost like she was preparing for a grandbaby, but that couldn’t be possible. She also said that she kept thinking about how I was turning twenty five years old and she had me at twenty five. She said immediately when she heard I had big news, she knew I was pregnant. WHAT??? God really? You told my mom I was pregnant. God is funny. I love it. He had prepared her heart for the unknown.
I told her that if she wanted to tell my dad, she could. I also said we’d love to come over there tonight and tell him too. She explained to me that work had been crazy that day, and she thought this might be too much for him to handle for that night. I completely understood. I knew he’d be excited, but he had been a big encourager of our “5 year plan,” so I figured we should wait until the timing was right. He’s a realist. Babies aren’t easy and he would be processing our long (yet joyful) road ahead. We planned on coming over Thursday night to tell him.
Around 4:30, my mom talked to my dad and found out he wasn’t working late. She knew we needed to tell him that night because my mom is the worst surprise keeper-she is the one that gives us our birthday/Christmas presents two weeks before because she just can’t wait. She knew that if we tried to wait until Thursday, she’d pop. We headed over there about 6:30 and he got home at 7. My mom warned us that although God had been preparing her heart, my dad would have no idea and she didn’t know how he’d respond. She said she knew he’d be excited but probably more shocked. That gave us an idea. Matt had gotten wait-listed for one of his PhD programs he applied to, so we decided to preface the news with we have two exciting pieces of information. Matt would go first with the school information and I would follow with the baby. So, we all sat down and Matt quickly began to explain that he had been wait-listed at Southwestern and my dad was happy for us. Matt and my dad talked logistics for a while about this school and the program. Once there was a pause, I told him that the other big news is that we were having a baby. His face was priceless. He smiled and said, “Well, congratulations.” We then explained how we found out and how we were terrified. They both immediately said that they would be there for us in every way. They had nothing but positive, encouraging, supporting words to say. We could have felt more blessed. We had been praying our families would respond with excitement and joy, and God answered them. The rest of the night was full of stories, laughter, and my mom’s amazing cooking.
Philippians 4: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
We are rejoicing for this baby to come!
