Abigail Hope

Abigail's story, written by her mother, Brandy Dahlen.


Abigail Hope Dahlen
April 9, 2008 – April 11, 2010
Abigail Hope's story begins on April 9, 2008. After a long, beautiful labor, Abigail was born into this world. Her peaceful birth was met by loud screams. At that moment, I knew this was going to be a bumpy road. Abigail met the world with passion and enthusiasm. She knew what she wanted from the beginning, and she was always more than happy to let everyone else within hearing distance know her opinion. She was the 2nd daughter we had been praying for...a sister for Anna Faith...a chance to use girly hair bows and dresses...a 4th child to finish out our 2 and 2 set...but wow did she have her own agenda.

To say Abigail was bossy isn't entirely accurate--she was THE boss--but we were all happy with it that way. Whatever she wanted, she got, but she also in the process convinced us that whatever we had just done for her was exactly what we wanted to do as well. It was in fact the very thing we were truly wanting to do all along...we just hadn’t known it yet. She was that child. The one that could make a first time parent seriously reconsider having kids. But despite the volume, the activity, the demands, we all adored her. She was the baby, the fourth. I had learned how to relax, how to be patient, how to not stress about the small things...well, most of the time anyway.

April 11th, 2010 was a beautiful spring Sunday. It was the first day of sunshine after a long period of rain. We had a peaceful day as a family, enjoying church and an afternoon t-ball game. That afternoon, we split up with my husband staying home with 3 of the children, while I took my oldest and our 5 week old baby to an event. The kids were playing ball in the yard, when Abigail chased the ball into my neighbor’s driveway, tripped, and proceeded to pitch a fit in typical Abigail fashion. Just 2 days after her second birthday, she didn’t know to move when the teenager living in the house walked out to get in his car and backed up. She was temporarily revived at the hospital long enough for me to arrive, but the damage to her brain was extensive and the doctors could do no more.

Our world stopped that day. We had to tell our other children they would never again play with their sister. We had to keep moving and functioning and finding a way to exist in a world without our spunky one. God carried us in those first few months of darkness and he carries us now in our pain. We have the hope and knowledge that we will see her again, but the temporary separation of this world is a constant, crushing ache for us.

But her story doesn’t end with her tragic loss. If we collapsed as a family, we would not honor her memory. We could not sit and do nothing. We wanted to find a way to still share her passion for life with the world, while fulfilling God’s call on our lives. We quickly found that sharing Abigail’s story and helping to educate the public on the dangers of vehicles around children was the best way we could remember and honor our Little Bit’s legacy. Technology will help prevent some of these accidents, but drivers need to always be vigilant about the blind zone behind their vehicle, and parents need to be aware of the dangers of parking lots and driveways especially, as so we continue to advocate and educate.

Our family blog is www.hopeinthegrief.blogspot.com if you are interested in reading more of our story or contacting us. We are always available to share our story or a safety demonstration, and are available to speak to other grieving families when they are experiencing the tragic loss of a child.

 
Published at kidsandcars.org.  http://www.kidsandcars.org/abigail-dahlen.html

Friendship, gratitude, and hope

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

Friendship is a multi-faceted thing. I have lots of friends and am grateful for how God weaves people into the fabric of my daily life. Some are sort of like main characters in the drama and comedy that is my current life: wife/motherhood, homeschooling, Christian living.... Then there are others who have guest appearances for a time, and then our paths become divergent for a while. We reconnect, and maintain a casual relationship, but they are not folks I talk to daily. We all have those lifelong friends who have been through so many ups and downs with us, that we will always remain close, despite some breaks in frequent communication. Some of those lifelong friends have been friends for over 20 years, and some are more recently gained. I'm amazed at how I think that I have such a full heart, blessed with sisters, not of blood, but of tears, laughter, common focus, and then God brings another precious friend into my life. It's a blessing to learn and grow from them.

This post is about one of those friends that I didn't go looking for, but whom God placed in my life to challenge and stretch me in great ways. The fact that our common bond was initially forged through homeschooling and parenting wasn't even that apparent. We weren't close friends though we traveled in the same circles, lived in the same little town, and our kids belonged to the same sports team and school groups. We knew of each other, had emailed some, and smiled and nodded when we crossed paths. I knew of her reputation as a mom and someone who was involved in her family's life to a wonderful extent - her priorities were her family and God.

The way we became friends was through loss. Our friendship's foundation is built on grief. That's a hard way to learn the ins and outs of a person, when they're most vulnerable, and could be so fragile emotionally. It's also a way to grow to deeply love a person, when you share their great heartache and see them emerge through the darkest days, determined to be stronger, to fight through the pain, and to live, even when it would seem easier to just give up on life. Friendships typically are a blend of giving and taking, and sharing the burdens and the joys. When grief is involved, you can't go into a relationship expecting anything of the other person, but must be willing to only give. What I found though, was that my friend still gave, even when she was heartbroken and in gut-wrenching pain. She responded kindly, encouraging me, and was always patient with my questions, and my awkward stumbling through conversations as I tried to not hurt her when we talked. Gradually, I shared more, and she answered my wonderings about many subjects with her opinions or experiences, and we had more and more moments of laughter and normalcy. 

Today, I can't imagine not having this friend as a confidante and example to follow. She has given great amounts of time to my own working through grief, and never says she can't listen, or it's too hard on her. She continually points to God as her source of strength through the years since she lost her daughter, and hers isn't a newfound faith. Her dependence was on Christ before Abigail was killed, and has only grown greater since that day. Her testimony is powerful and she is determined to give Him the glory for any good that has come out of their family's tragedy.

Thank you Brandy, for being my friend, and for being a shining light of Hope, that honors our Lord, and your sweet girl.

This says it perfectly.

Stretching, Part IV

Read previous entry to catch up if you don't know what's going on...

We went into today's appointment for a follow-up ultrasound fully prepared (as well as we could be) for confirmation that the pregnancy wasn't going to last, and for the next step to possibly be surgery. Though I have continued to feel very pregnant, with fatigue, nausea, hunger, and other weird, normal symptoms, I told myself repeatedly to guard my heart and remember that my body would still do this, even if there wasn't an actual baby growing. Abigail had steadfastly reminded us that she, Isaac, and Elijah were all miracle babies, and that God could choose to give us another miracle. I agreed it was possible, but tried to prepare her for the possibility that He may not give us another baby at this time. It has been hard to balance faith with reality, and believing God is capable of a miracle, when science is giving all indications that is unlikely and improbable.

However, I am so grateful, shocked, humbled, and amazed, to present to you, our fourth miracle:




As soon as the sonographer began the scan, I saw the flickering heartbeat, and a tiny little being. She happily announced, "I see a baby!" James laughed outloud, while I cried for joy. We are beyond thankful, and truly overwhelmed by God's graciousness to our family. He has strengthened us this past week through so many kind prayers and words of encouragement, and I know we would have been all right if today's news hadn't been so wonderful. Even now, we know that especially this early in a pregnancy, there are still things that could happen. But for now, we are rejoicing and celebrating that early in 2010, it appears that we will be parents again.

Our sweet daughter's faith has been an example to us all, and we are now awaiting the determination of whether this will be the little sister she's been praying for. If so, we have a very fitting name for the little stinker, who hid from sight last week. :-) I'm starting a new baby blog, and updates will be coming on that site, if you'd like to check in as our little one grows. The new address is http://ourbonusbaby.blogspot.com.

Stretching, Part III

This entry in the whole "Stretching" theme has been the hardest to write. Even as I type, I don't know what the outcome may be in a few more days. The main point of it is that for years, James and I have longed to enlarge our family through adoption. We felt that if we had a baby after Abigail, then we would adopt a few years later. When it took several years to get pregnant again, and to have Elijah, we almost gave up hope and assumed that maybe we were only supposed to be the parents of two children. When Elijah was born though, it just felt like things were falling into place, and that meant that we would now adopt a daughter, and our family would be complete. The last few months though, I have felt my heart in a little turmoil. As much as I have always longed to adopt, I started having second thoughts, and doubts about whether we were supposed to add to our family again. I mentioned some of my thinking to James recently, who responded he did feel that we were not yet complete, so it just must not be the right time. I couldn't figure out how the logistics of money and time and housing were all going to be answered, but haven't felt too pressured either. I just didn't want Elijah to be so old that we would be starting all over after completely finishing the baby phase again. I have resolved to just pray and ask God to make it clear what He would have us do. We have been very upfront as a family that we intended to be a family of 4, so the kids even ask when we are getting our little sister, and we just keep telling them that we don't know yet.

Then, just over a week ago, I had a positive pregnancy test. I had been in denial all week that I might be pregnant, but finally caved and took a test. I cannot tell you how shocked and confused I was when I first saw that line show up. I was almost sick at my stomach, because I imagined our family and friends looking at us like we were crazy. We are struggling feeling so crammed in our house right now, and financially, we weren't prepared to add to our family again so soon. I won't go into the details of how I couldn't even believe how I could've gotten pregnant, but especially considering how hard it has been to get pregnant in the past, it was just crazy this would happen when we least expected it - or even wanted it. After the first days of shock wore off, the news started settling in, and we started getting excited. We agreed to wait and tell our family and friends until around Father's Day. By then, I would have a dr. appt. and ultrasound, and more confirmation that things were going well, and it was really happening.

My appointment didn't exactly go that way though. The ultrasound didn't show an embryo, just an empty sack. Dr. McK said that it was possible that we were just a few days too early to see the forming baby, but once my bloodwork came back and was a very high HCG number, it seemed more likely that things were not developing normally. There was much sadness and frustration, as I asked God why He'd even tease us with a pregnancy, if it wasn't really going to end up with a baby. I mean, we weren't asking for a baby or anything, so why get our hopes up, to just crush them? I don't have all those answers yet, but am trusting that God has a purpose in allowing us to be stretched again. There is also the eternal optimist in me that says there is hope that things will turn out just fine, that this bonus baby will be born, and add to our family just like we imagined a fourth child would - we just never dreamed it would be of our own flesh and blood.

We appreciate that several of you who already know this news have been such strong warriors in prayer for our family. This is how I ended the email telling folks our heart's desire in all this...

It has been a hard few days, and I have been super emotional at times, but now am better emotionally, just really nauseated! We have explained things to the kids in simple terms and they have been so sweet. They are concerned about what is going to happen Thursday, and keep asking, "How long till we know if there is a baby?" :-) Abigail has reminded me how just last week, she started praying for a baby sister, so she is very hopeful that her prayer is being answered. We really do not want her to think God has ignored her if this pregnancy doesn't work out, so are trying to teach them that we want God's plan, not ours, and that we just don't know what that may be. It is hard to wait. After years of waiting to getting pregnant, we should be better at it by now though!

Thank you for praying with us for God to do what will ultimately allow us to be the best witness of His glory. Unless something changes before then, we will update you Thursday after the appointment. We love you.

Stretching, Part I

This last month or so has involved a time of stretching for our family. We actually feel like we are being tugged in a few different areas. The first one I want to share about tonight, as we would covet your prayers.

We have been privileged to be able to be there physically for a friend in need in a way that I wish wasn't necessary, but unfortunately, is. A painful childhood, and then a difficult marriage, have turned into over a decade of abuse. She needed a temporary home away from home, so has been living with us. While we are so thankful that she has been here, and know that God led us to offer our home to her, it has been a hard time. Seeing her pain, hearing the stories, and trying to give some answers to questions she has - it's been draining, and challenging. I am not sorry she shares with us, but am so sad she has had to suffer the way she has, that it's just hard to know what to say. She has asked repeatedly why God has allowed this pain for so long, and if she deserves it. All the conversation in the world, and Scripture to base my answers on, do not make up for the memories of hurtful words, and physical blows. I now mostly answer, "I don't know why, but I do know that God is aware of it all, and I am hoping in Him."

As a pretty tender-hearted soul, at times I feel unable to bear just listening to her, and surely can't imagine how she must feel. I try to empathize, but truly cannot relate (thank you, LORD!) to what she has experienced. Through these last 5 weeks, I realize over and over how sweet my life has been. Trials I have experienced pale into comparison to the things this dear friend has had to walk through, mostly on her own.

God is working, and it is neat how He is teaching our family through this opportunity. I'm so glad we have been available and obedient. I think we have gained more than my friend has. I pray that I will never take my precious husband for granted, and am so thankful for the godly parents who raised me so lovingly as well. Those are luxuries and blessings others just do not have. An amazing part of this journey has been how the Word has offered hope when my words surely do not. Here is a passage I have read often, and shared with her, because the verse fit this scenario so well. Please pray for my sweet friend, as this week holds more challenges, and for her future to hold healing and restoration if it's God's will.

^{Psalm 33}

¹⁸ But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

¹⁹ to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

²² May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.

New life

I think God's timing is simply amazing, for bazillions of reasons I am not going into right now. One though, just happened this morning. A little background:

Back in the fall, as I was cleaning out the herb garden, I found a few caterpillars on my dying parsley plants. I knew a cold snap was coming, so brought them in and put them in a butterfly house we had been given for Isaac's birthday. We fed them well and within days, the two caterpillars made chrysalises. They wintered over, and miraculously, one did turn into a butterfly and we released it in February. After a sad week of grieving for our friends' loss, Abigail came running through the house this morning, as we were getting ready for church, shouting, "Mom! Mom! You won't believe this!"She was right - I hardly believed her when she told me the second caterpillar chrysalis we've been waiting on for months had hatched a beautiful swallowtail. We assumed that this one was dead in the chrysalis, but just couldn't bring ourselves to throw it out. Then, today, it shed that old life, and was released in our yard. What an encouraging moment for all of us. I'm so thankful for spring, and the signs of life all around us. They give us such hope in hard times. I pray you'll see that hope everywhere you look this week!!

The Week of Elijah: Reminiscing

I've been pondering a lot these past few days, recalling memories of the past year with Elijah's birth, and the events that led up to it. There are a lot of details that are already fuzzy in my brain. I'm so thankful that I documented so much of the pregnancy and the journey toward becoming a mama to 3. Re-reading his birth story tonight again reminded me of the blessing we've been given, and how truly amazed I am that God chooses to answer our prayers so beautifully. The picture of grace that our children are in our lives overwhelms me again and again.

Seeing those pictures that we took just over a year ago, with the word hope meaningfully included, so clearly parallels and illustrates the other Birth that we are celebrating in this season as well. Both lives began with a surprising pregnancy, a difficult entrance to life on earth, and both children were born into a world that is full of fear, beauty, wonder, and disappointment. However, I'm even more grateful for that other Baby's birth, that gives us HOPE through the triumphs and trials to come for my little ones. I think I disagree with those who say it's a shame to be born at this time of year, due to the "competition" with Christmas festivities. What an honor to share a birthday season with the time we focus on celebrating Christ's birth. I pray that Elijah, whose name means The Lord is my God, will live up to honoring the One who has given him life. Happy birthday eve, sweet son. My heart is overflowing with gratitude for you and all God is teaching me through you.

no words

Pretty much everyone on the planet knows that Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman lost their youngest daughter last week. Through a tragic accident, sweet Maria's life on earth ended after just five years. I have thought of them, and prayed for their family, so much since I first read the news late that night of her death. I've awakened numerous nights from sleep, with their family on my heart. All I know to do is to pray for strength for them. This is the second family well-known in the Christian music community to lose a child in as many months. I mentioned the other family, Todd and Angie Smith, back in April. Today I checked Angie's blog to read of another baby lost. Todd's sister Nicol Smith Sponberg, who was one of the original members of Selah with him, went to check on her 2 month old son last night, only to find he wasn't breathing.

When I sent the email about the Chapmans' loss to a small group of prayer warriors, my sweet friend Jamie replied simply, "no words." I guess I feel the same way. What is there to say? How do we respond to grief of this magnitude? I don't know how to articulate the thoughts in my head and the heaviness in my heart. But, because I'm going to have to write it out, I guess I'm typing this to just plead for friends who read this to ask for strength and comfort for them. I don't have anything much to add beyond my hope for their families to lean on God to get them through another heartache and for others to be brought to Him because of their witness and faith. I've been sitting here digesting the news, contemplating whether to even share it on this blog or not. Death is part of life, and so it shouldn't surprise us, but I guess when the one lost is a child, it's just so hard for us to take.

Jamie and I were just talking about this song today, written by Steven Curtis Chapman for friends who lost a daughter years ago in a freak accident. That family was one of the first to arrive at the Chapmans' last Wednesday, offering comfort since they truly can say, 'We know how you feel.' If you want to read more about their story and Maria's service, go here. Anyway, just digesting, and processing, and praying.

With Hope
This is not at all how
We thought it was supposed to be
We had so many plans for you
We had so many dreams
And now you've gone away
And left us with the memories of your smile
And nothing we can say
And nothing we can do
Can take away the pain
The pain of losing you, but ...

We can cry with hope
We can say goodbye with hope
'Cause we know our goodbye is not the end, oh no
And we can grieve with hope
'Cause we believe with hope
(There's a place by God's grace)
There's a place where we'll see your face again
We'll see your face again

And never have I known
Anything so hard to understand
And never have I questioned more
The wisdom of God's plan
But through the cloud of tears
I see the Father's smile and say "Well done"
And I imagine you
Where you wanted most to be
Seeing all your dreams come true
'Cause now you're home
And now you're free, and ...

We have this hope as an anchor
'Cause we believe that everything
God promised us is true, so ...

So we can cry with hope
And say goodbye with hope

We wait with hope
And we ache with hope
We hold on with hope
We let go with hope

Timing is Everything

A year ago today, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Things have changed a little since then. Mostly for the amazing good, and only a couple for the worse:



GOOD:
- our precious baby boy Elijah is part of our family
- Mother's Day is extra special this year
- God answered our prayers for another baby, with a "Yes!"
- I survived a difficult pregnancy, scary delivery, and have great health, and a healthy baby too
- Isaac and Abigail love having a little brother
- I'm overwhelmed more than ever at the blessings of our sweet family members
- I have a deeper compassion for those struggling with infertility and loss after this most recent experience

WORSE:
- carrying around pregnancy pounds still, that are harder to lose at 35
- my heart is totally vulnerable to yet another gift from God, with his chubby self and sweet nature

Here are some recent pictures, and a neato story, if you believe in God's desire to bless us sometimes in seemingly "silly" ways, that really can knock our socks off.

Once upon a time, there was this couple - us. We'd been married for almost 2 years. And, about 10 years ago, we had the talk about trying to get pregnant. I had the calendar ready, and months marked - some of you get this whole "planning" thing I was trying to do. I explained based on my normally very regular cycles that if we were fortunate and things went well, we would probably be able to get pregnant in 3 months or so (where this number came from, I have no idea), and so we could hopefully have a baby the next March, April, or May. April was my first choice. :-) I am chuckling to myself now, at how naive and hopeful and clueless I was. My sweet husband was in agreement that we were ready to see what might happen, and we assumed things would just fall into place. Sometime within a few weeks, we were at a yard sale, and saw this sweet little Peter Rabbit baby boy outfit. We had already discussed wanting to decorate our nursery someday with that theme, so bought it on a whim, with a happy-go-lucky attitude, thinking, 'Next year our son (we knew our firstborn would be a boy) will wear this!'

The short version of the story is that we didn't have a son that next year. Due to some surprise circumstances and God's sovereignty, we did adopt one though, in 2001. Then, after years of struggling and waiting, we had Abigail in 2002. I remember thinking about that little outfit, still hanging in the closet, never worn. When it would have fit Isaac, I had no idea he'd someday be our son, so it never crossed my mind for him to wear it. The cool thing is, our oldest child is a boy - and he was born that next spring, just how I'd dreamed it would all work out when James and I first decided we were ready to have a family!

And, so, it's just really neat how Elijah came this past December, after more waiting and praying, and he was the right size in the spring to wear this little outfit we held onto for 10 years. It's not the most amazing clothing item ever, but it is a wonderful detail that I'll never forget. God put our family together, and answered our prayers in ways we never could've planned or imagined. Our children came to us when He was ready, and not when we thought we were, and though there were so many tears in the waiting, His timing sure has been great. We're tremendously blessed.

Wholly His?

We sang this song Sunday in our service. Its words really are beautiful, and I love the picture they paint -such a great way to express the contrast of God's goodness and our condition without Him. Though I was previously stained with dirt and hopelessly lost, He decided to reach out and give me His grace that cleansed my heart and gave me new life. That is something I seem to forget - how shameful that I don't continually thank Him by living a life that is more consistently seeking to honor Him...

Romans 5: Peace and Joy

¹Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Wholly Yours Lyrics

David Crowder Band

I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From a broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirt

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You are

You are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating man

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are

But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean

Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy God

So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly Yours

I am wholly Yours

I am full of earth and dirt and You

Child-like faith and a dead mouse

Our family loves animals. There's something very enjoyable and educational about having animals involved in our daily lives. We've learned many life lessons through observing and loving different creatures of God's. We have lots of pets, but enjoy animals from the "wild" also. This incident happened a couple of months ago, but I forgot to share it then, and it's just too good not to.

Among our menagerie, we have two cats. They are Merlin and Magic, and are 12 years old. They're sweet, easygoing, and generally tolerate lots of loving from our kids without even a tiny complaint. Very rarely, one will bring us a little gift, in the form of a mole or tiny mouse. This has only happened a dozen times probably in the dozen years we've had them. Either they aren't too appreciative of our providing food and shelter, or they just have no desire to hunt because it requires energy to be expended and they're lazy. One morning this fall though, Abigail and Isaac opened the side door to the driveway, and there lay a pitiful, non-living, little field mouse. Abigail immediately came running, saying, "Oh Mom! Come see this precious mouse that is asleep in the driveway!" I instantly cringed, thinking, 'Uh oh, this is going to be sad.'

So, I went to the door, and tried to gently explain that the mouse was no longer just sleeping, though he didn't look harmed at all, and had apparently not survived our kitty's playing with him. My sweet girl just listened with big eyes, so sad, and incredulous. I couldn't answer exactly why Merlin or Magic would have played with an innocent mouse, when they had no intention of eating it, but tried to explain that animals have instincts that makes them hunt (occasionally) and they are just doing what God created them for. She tried to understand, but was really just brokenhearted. She asked if she could sit out there for a while with the tiny mouse, and just watch after it. I said that was fine, and just to not pick it up in case it had germs.

She came in later, ready to do school, and asked me to come see "him." When I walked outside, I nearly cried at her sensitivity and the hope she had for this tiny creature. She'd moved him, "very gently with a shovel," she said, to the small trampoline we have, so he wouldn't be on the ground. Then, beside him she'd placed a square of cheese. I asked her what she did that for, and she said she had been out there praying for him, and though she knew he was dead, she thought maybe God would let him come back to life, so she wanted him to have food if God answered her prayer. She had been crying, but was very calm and really hopeful.

All day, she'd go glance out the window to see what the status was of the mouse. Thankfully, no one disturbed him, but he also never got up. Later in the afternoon, James and I talked to her about how God probably wasn't going to resurrect the mouse, so we needed to bury it before another animal hurt its body. She agreed, and helped James bury it, and prayed as they did. Her earnest belief that God could heal that mouse was so powerful, even if we adults thought it was a little silly at first. There was no reason God couldn't do it, so she prayed, believing He just might, and then wasn't devastated when He didn't. We talked about how the Bible specifically says that God knows even when a sparrow falls, so He knew about this little mouse, and heard her prayer.

The hope she demonstrated then is a precious memory to me. We need to emulate that child-like faith much more often! When my Mom had cancer nearly 2 years ago now, our kids were the most positive and hopeful throughout her treatment and recovery. Though we knew her situation and early detection were going to make her odds very good of coming through it well, there was always some doubt in the back of my mind. Isaac and Abigail both were so encouraging in their prayers and patient waiting of God to completely heal Gramma. And, He did, and they weren't surprised at all. Isn't that just great?