Monday, June 18, 2012

My Daughter's Name



I know that I have been promising this story for a long time... ok a really time. I've been praying for the words to write it so that God is fully glorified by this story so completely orchestrated by Him. So... here it is- just know that my words cannot do justice to the awesome ways in which He reveals Himself.



           After our son, Hank passed away, I was praying for God to speak more clearly to me as to how I was going to be able to keep going in my life. I prayed this daily, but was still skeptical that He would actually ever “answer” me. I have always kind of kept God in a box, confined by my ideas about how He works. I thought that He had done all the speaking He was ever going to do, long before I existed, and that if I expected to hear from Him, I would find it in His words in the Bible. 
         When I opened my Bible every day after Hank died, I prayed for God to help me to hear the words I needed to hear to get me through the day. My favorite scripture became Isaiah 61:3 ... to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Before we knew Hank was a boy, one of the names we liked for a girl was Lorabelle. None of our family really liked the name, so we never agreed on a girl name. But, it turned out he was a boy, so we didn’t need it!.  
          One day, after reading my scriptures, I was thinking about the name Lorabelle and decided to look up it’s meaning. Lora means crown of laurel and belle means beauty. So, I felt like that was my promise, that I would have another child who would become my crown of beauty. That was the hope that got me through many, many hard days.  
                In October, we planned on doing Marathoning for Miracles in honor of Hank to raise money for Hendrick Children’s Hospital.  Just about a week before the event, we found out we were expecting our second child. Then, two days before the marathon, I was on my way to work and saw my dog out down the street. I was in a hurry, so I stopped and called her over and opened the car door and told her to get in. When I pulled back into my driveway, I saw my dog in the yard and looked back at the one in my back seat as I realized I had someone else's dog. I just remember laughing when I looked at the dog's face and realized she wasn't mine. And then I thought, oh boy- I hope Nathan thinks this is as funny as I do.... I put the dog in my garage so it wouldn’t get ran over and planned to find its owner as soon as possible so that my husband didn't kill me for bringing home another animal ( I already have 6).  
This is my dog Bella

And this is the dog I brought home thinking it was her.

               The next day, a bus full of ACU students going to Medina Children’s Home crashed and I found out that a sweet, sweet student named Anabel, who’d been emailing me and praying for me since Hank died, went to join our Savior. I was so sad to hear this news. 
              On Saturday, we had a big group gather to walk at the Marathon, and after it was over, we had the great pleasure of announcing to our family and friends that we were expecting another baby. Truly a blessing in timing and a hope for our future. 
              Sunday afternoon, we took the dog out walking the neighborhood again, looking for someone who had seen her before. We finally found some kids that new where she lived. The owner wasn't home, so we left him a note with our phone number. That night, we went to a service at the University Church of Christ to pray for all of those involved in the accident. On the way, we got a call from the dog's owner. We told him we'd bring her over after the service. I had been calling the dog Blue and Nathan had been making fun of me for it because she was a big red dog.  I told Nathan, "I bet her name really is Blue and you’re going to feel bad for making fun of me."
               We took her home and her owner was so excited to see her. I asked him what her name was….. and he said LORABELLE!! Nathan and I looked at each other and our mouths dropped open. We could not believe that this dog, who’d come to stay with us during the time when Anabel passed away, and we had more than 20 people gather to walk or run in Hank’s memory, and we announced to our families that we were having another baby, was Lorabelle. A reminder of our promise. Our promise of a crown of beauty. That day we were convinced that this baby, girl or boy, was our Lorabelle. Our crown of Beauty.  And I was convinced that He is not done. He has much more to say and to share. And he desires an intimate relationship with each one of us.
                I thought what a perfect way for Him to reach me. I love animals and he knew that I would not leave that dog on the side of the road. He knew I was skeptical.... so He made it so clear..... it was like He was saying "She cannot miss this"...... He knows me so well. He made all of these little pieces fall together so perfectly. His timing and His ways are perfect. He made us believe in Him and in His goodness in a whole new way. So, when those balloons came out of the box at our gender reveal party, it was no surprise that they were pink. 
            And now here we are.... just a short time from meeting our little crown of beauty, our Lorabelle.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful!!! Lorabelle, we have loved you so much before you were even born. We have prayed for you and your precious parents and will continue. Can't wait to hold you and love you even more. Love Uncle Ryan, Aunt Robin and Paiton
(Every night we pray for you and Paiton says..." Rock-a my baby Belle, Rock-a my baby Belle... Love you!

To God be the glory... said...

Aww! We came by right after you found Lorabelle in the neighborhood, but had not heard the end of the story. God is so good!