Tomorrow is the day! We’ve prayed for you hundreds of times already and we will pray for you hundreds more, if the Lord lets us live to watch you grow. Today, I spent the day with your older brother, Ezra, and your big sister, Colleyanna. They pray for you regularly, too, and they are already over-the-moon in love with you. We went fishing and had a picnic and read stories and played bad guys. I’m totally exhausted and I had no time for reflection today; and yet, there you were…right there in my heart and in my prayers all day long. I kept thinking about the amazing fact that you are rolled up there in your silent world of utter warmth and provision inside our Hannah and, early in the morning, you will be crying your little lungs out in a hospital in Chattanooga. God sees you in both places. He already knows the things we will finally find out tomorrow. I don’t know if you are a he or a she yet, but, if I’ve learned one thing about being a grandmother in the past five years, it’s that there’s always enough love in a mammy’s heart to give the whole thing, the mammy’s heart to every single grandchild. Once they put you in my arms, I’ll be inextricably linked at the heart to you. (In fact, I am already!) There’s nothing good, that I have to give, that you cannot have, for the asking.
The third child. It was the third son of Adam and Eve through which the earth was populated again through Noah. It was the third son of Jacob who fathered the priestly tribe. It was the third child of Amram and Jochebed who led Israel out of Egypt. You, Baby G3, can do, as your brother Ezra says “…anything you get your mind to.” And if you “get your mind to” the right things, your mammy and papa will move whatever of heaven and earth we can move to help you do those things.
I know your mama and dad will tell you one day about the pandemic that was occurring as you came into the world. No one alive now will soon forget these days, Much to our disappointment, we’re not going to be allowed into the hospital to be with your mother or to hold you when you are moments old. We’ll make up for that when you come home from the hospital.
So today, we fished. We fished and fished, but caught nothing, except a tree limb. Ezra said it was because people, across the lake, were being too loud. (I think Ezra was pretty competitive in the decibel department.) The wind was blowing and we kept having to retrieve things as they blew into the water (a canvas chair carrier and even one of our poles.) We got our line in a tree and a hook in the back of my pants. We saw about five times as many turtles as we saw fish. We dropped our Pop Tarts for the ants and we poured our drinking water in the little tub for our worms to “have a dwink.” We had fun, but the physical take-away was disappointing.
When we got in the car to come home, we sat there for a little bit and talked about some people in the Bible who fished for hours and caught nothing. Jesus told them to try once more on the other side of the sea. And when they did, Peter, James and John caught their nets full of fishes. But still, Jesus had an even bigger catch for them to make. He wanted them to become fishers of men. And He calls us all to be fishers of men, too.
We talked about you, Baby G, and how that we would all help you grow up to be someone who always wants to tell people about Jesus. No matter what else you do, we are going to keep praying this for you. One day, we hope we will be in the delivery room when you are born again of water and the spirit–truly delivered!
It’s just now midnight, as I type. It’s your birthday! Happy, happy birthday! I’ll be waiting anxiously during the next few hours for the news that you are here, that you are safe, and that you are beautiful. And when I finally get to you, then you and I will not be social distancing!
You have our hearts!
Mammy and Papa