A Baby Sister

So many times as a small girl, I can remember laying in my mom's bed praying for a baby sister. My baby brother, Jonathan, was not a sister, so I kept praying. After I went to kindergarten, I started praying for a baby sister named Jessica just like one of my friends at school. I really loved that name. I prayed and prayed and prayed.

The night my mom went into labor I can vividly remember. It was Thanksgiving night. Mom and Dad left for the hospital while we watched the lighting of the Macy's tree. Late that night I was in bed when Dad called with the news which my oldest brother shouted out, "It's a boy!" My brothers were all excited, I pulled my covers over my head and cried. 

I was still grumpy the next day when we went to the hospital to see our brother, but was somewhat reconciled to the new baby when I was given a blue bubble gum cigar. And he was cute. Really cute. 

I stopped praying for babies after that. Four brothers was enough.

That tiny baby brother has grown big and tall, works a full time job and goes to school at night. He's a handsome, grown man. Like many young people, Jimmy had growing pains that kept us on our knees, and our earnest prayers were heard and answered. 

Last summer Tony and I were sitting in church and I didn't even realize that Jimmy was sitting a few rows in front of us. I guess I always see him as the small baby brother, not the strapping man he is today which makes him hard to recognize from the back! During the course of the service we were called to the altar to pray as a response to the message and tears coursed down my cheeks to see Jimmy walk the isle and kneel. Happy tears streamed my face to see this new creature, no wonder I didn't recognize him! 

The other day I was looking at pictures and that feeling like an unexpected clap of thunder shook me. I've had that feeling before, it's that feeling you get when in awe you realize that God heard your prayer and answered. That moment of realization that God is listening as He says and not only that, but doing too. It's that sense of shock when you know that your innocent child prayers, really only a plea for a playmate in a house full of brothers, were fulfilled in a time and place when a heart needed changing and a life renewing. 

You see, my brother met a girl. At a time when change was the only option and not an easy one, he met a girl that made him want to change. At a time when he needed someone who saw a future rather than a past, he met a girl. And looking at pictures of my brother and his fiance, I suddenly realized that God gave me a baby sister and her name is Jessica.