April 2009: Surprise!

My big question was answered in October 2008. But the questions of when and how to prepare for ministry took longer to sort out. By Spring of 2009, we both felt the coming Fall was the best time for me to start seminary. Full-time seminary looked like the best because evening classes would strain our family too much and likely cause the Life Coaches for Kids® ministry to end since I wouldn’t have time to lead it. A significant challenge for Julie was accepting that this would not be a good time to have another child with a move on the horizon and major career change for me.

She struggled for some time in the Spring, until she finally felt like she could let her desire rest with God. Ironically, one week after she came to peace about this, she noticed something wasn't normal. Sure enough, God had triumphed over common sense. We were now on the road to experiencing three major life changes in four months: new house, new “job,” and new baby!

As we were pondering our miracle child, we sat down to pray. A picture of a baby girl named Hannah came to my mind as we thanked God.

Now, I think we all have a number of meaningless random associations that come up at times like this. I assumed that’s probably what it was. That was until we sat down with Jeremiah for our evening Bible story-time. We had just finished Judges, so we turned the page to 1 Samuel 1, and of course, it was the story of Hannah and Samuel. We thought about the parallels, Julie surrendering her claim to have children immediately, and Hannah surrendering her claim to her firstborn, and we thought this was probably more than a coincidence.

Baby Hannah one month old, smiling for her grandma.

Eight months later, on December 14, a providential three days after my last final exam, a healthy Hannah Kristine made her first appearance. And maybe as a precursor to her successful survival with two brothers, she emerged from the womb in perfect shape in spite of her umbilical cord being wrapped twice around her neck. Praise God!