A Heritage From the Lord part 3

(please scroll down to read parts 1 & 2 first)

A funny thing happened when we announced our fourth child was on the way... people started to give up on us. We had officially crossed over to the "other side." They stopped asking us if we were done now. They gave us over to our insanity, so to speak. We still got all the other usual questions like "How do manage?" but they no longer expected us to be reasonable about our family size. I distinctly remember a shift in the tide.

Actually, it was a welcome relief from the pressure to conform, and extremely liberating.

Our fourth child was born- a healthy boy.

About 18 months later I was pregnant again. We took the children out for ice cream and made the happy announcement there. Everyone was excited about the new baby on the way. I thought it would be fun to bring them along on my first ultrasound so they could see too. As we all watched the screen, the doctor could not find a baby. Just a big, empty womb.

I was devastated. Six weeks later, I finally consented to a D&C. So many thoughts flooded my mind. I had made the mistake of assuming that because we had agreed to receive a large family that the Lord was obligated to send one. This experience had taught me that trusting God's sovereignty meant trusting whether He sent 10 more or no more.

More to come...