When Clint and I decided to have a baby, we planned it out. I mean, really planned it out. As in, we have the letters TID (Target Impregnation Date) written on the calendar on the date we wanted to get pregnant in order to have the baby due exactly 12 weeks before the end of my school year. The getting pregnant part worked perfectly both times. I like plans. I hate surprises. (That's why I teach history...no surprise endings...everybody dies.) Our first pregnancy, labor, and delivery was full of bad surprises. Kadie is a blessing, but the process was not fun; nothing went as planned. It scared the snot out of me; which is the main reason I waited so long before daring to do that again. Jump ahead to 2004, our second pregnancy. Everything was going along just as expected, until the date of our 20-week ultrasound. We went to see if it was a boy or a girl, when they said it was ONE OF EACH!!! SURPRISE!!!! I'll never forget what Clint said as I long as I live, he just sat there stunned and said, "We'll have to buy a bigger boat!" Ten weeks later, I was on bed rest.
Well, this was NOT part of the plan. Our family budget was going to take quite a hit. See, we don't make much money, at all. We have very few expenses since we live on campus and eat there, etc., but we don't make a lot. Bed rest, twins, another blasted C-section; these things were going to require a lot of time off of work without pay. I was worried. Clint, on the other hand, was not. At least he didn't act like he was. His attitude was "We'll pray about it and God will provide." I tried to act like I believed that too, but I was a little like Sarah (from the Bible) and started making my own plans, just in case. I didn't need to worry. God showed up BIG. First, God had led me to take out an AFLAC policy right before the pregnancy. One day while on bed rest (with nothing else to do but watch YET ANOTHER rerun of Family Feud on Game Show Network), I called AFLAC to discuss paperwork. Well, my customer service agent and I started chatting it up when all of sudden she said, "Wait. You're on bed rest? That's a separate claim. You can file for that claim and then file for the delivery. We will pay you twice." Cha-ching! God showed up big the next time at my baby showers. Yes, I said showerS. People started bringing me gifts, big gifts; tons of them! I can't begin to express the generosity that was shown to us. I didn't even know we KNEW that many people. The day we brought the twins home, we had over 5000 diapers in our house ranging from size preemie through size 5, and we had not bought any of them! I could talk about that all day long, but I haven't gotten to the best part.
When all was said and done, all the checks and bills were totaled, we were going to fall $2000 short of what we had set aside. For many people, that's probably not a lot of money. But for us, it was huge. We kept the dollar amount to ourselves. I mean that. We didn't tell ANYONE we needed $2000. For Clint, I think he kept quiet about it out of faith. He knew God wold provide. For me, I think it was a little out of pride. I hate asking for help, so we didn't. About two weeks before the twins were born, we were leaving church, when Clint came up to me with a stunned look on his face. He said that Greg Johnston had come up to him, as head of the Finance Ministry, and had given us a check. Some anonymous donor had given money to the church specifically for us. We got in the car and opened the envelope. The check was for $2000 -- the exact amount we were going to fall short and the exact amount we had prayed for. To this day, I still don't know who in our amazing church family heeded the call of the Holy Spirit and gave us that money. It was an answered prayer! It wasn't just about the money. I mean, we had savings. We could have swallowed our pride and asked out parents even. No, this check was for me, the "dew on the fleece while the ground was still dry" Gideon-type sign I needed to go into labor,delivery, and MOTHERHOOD to twins. Through that anonymous donor, God reminded me that He will never leave me or forsake me; that I can cry out to Him and He will hear me. God showed up, and we were forever changed.
Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
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