24. Brief

My 31 Free Writes for October play out like a serial love story in an old time magazine. It’s the saga of a young woman and how God leads her to the love of her life. Each day offers new developments in a romance only the Lord could write.

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As I’ve mentioned before, David and I talked about EVERYTHING. What a blessing to have honest discussions about pretty much any topic you can imagine. I am so grateful to God that He gave me a hubby who is patient and intelligent. That doesn’t mean we didn’t have any disagreements or friendly debates, with the very rare shouting match thrown in.

As a matter of fact, we discovered that we could say the same thing and walk away with differing understandings about what was said. Case in point, when to have children. We agreed that it would be nice to have children after 2 ½ years. That would give us time to grow as a couple and prepare ourselves for the arrival of our baby. Sounds like a plan.

About 8-9 months after we were married I was feeling especially tired and had missed my period. I double-checked my calendar, counting the days, doing the math……. “OH.”

 (Cue the curious hubby)

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, nothing. Well, it looks like I may have miscalculated……” Sidebar: Do you know what they call first time users of natural birth control? Parents. Ha, ha.  Pretty much…….

“Are you saying that you’re pregnant?!”

“Could be,” I answered with a weak grin. “I’ll have to go to the doctor to make sure.”

David couldn’t contain his excitement as he hugged me and told me how much he loved me.

I, on the other hand, was still grappling with the implications of my previous miscalculation. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have children. When I was a kid I actually had chosen 12 names for my future offspring after reading Cheaper by the Dozen. I had shown this list to David BEFORE we were engaged. Yeah, I’m a nut.

No, my struggle came with getting a grip on not having my 2 and a half years with David, kid free.

David noticed my subdued response and asked me what I was thinking.

“It’s too soon. I thought we would start trying to have kids after the two and a half years. Now we won’t have the time we wanted, just the two of us.”

The hug tightened. “Sweetheart, we talked about it. I always thought that we would have our first child by the 2 ½ year point.”

There was nothing more to be done but to schedule a doctor’s appointment and get the confirmation that I knew was coming. I had to pray for God’s grace to make the most of our brief time left as a twosome so I could begin the next stage of motherhood joyfully.

Sometimes you write chapters of life in your head that last for pages and pages. But for all our plans we don’t really know what’s around the next bend in life’s road. For every adjustment and transition we find that God remains the same. He is good at every juncture in life.

He is our constant in the chaos.
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Whatever the day may bring, He is with us every step of the way.
 
Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

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