The other day, a good friend and I were out walking together. (Actually it was back in May but it took me 5 months to post this!).

This friend is a really good friend. As in a really good, HONEST friend. We have one of those relationships where we can be really honest with each other about everything. Even our junk.

If you don’t have one of these friends, I highly suggest you get one! It’s not easy to get a really good, honest friend. Because to GET a good, honest friend, you have to BE a good, honest friend.

Funny how that applies in other relationships too – like marriage for one.

Anyway, we were walking and I commented on a parenting thing I had done the week before. I had already told her the same thing the week before knowing deep down that it MIGHT be something she would be judge-y about because we’ve been down the judgment road before. Both ways. And we are usually very cool with it!

She hadn’t said anything the week before but this time she immediately said, “Let me ask you something. Why DID you do that?”

Why? The dreaded “Why?”

I’ve heard it said in marriage talks (by me for one) and books, that “why” is a challenge word – especially for men. In fact, when you ask a question starting with “Why”, you might as well just tack “you idiot” to the end of it because that’s usually the way it’s received.

What I honestly heard from my friend was, “Why did you do that, you idiot”?

And, I immediately launched in to full-blown defense mode! And it wasn’t pretty!

Maybe it started with me having that all-too-common feeling we moms have that we just aren’t succeeding at the motherhood thing and she was touching on a tender nerve.

Maybe it was that a little while before that, she’d commented negatively on something else I had done in the parenting arena and I put myself inside her head and assumed she was getting ready to come down on me again.

Maybe it was simply the well-known theory behind how “why” makes people feel!

My friend immediately looked at me and said quite firmly, “Geez! Calm down! Don’t get all defensive!” (She is allowed to talk to me like that so don’t judge her 😄)! I said, “Well, maybe it was your tone or maybe it’s just that you started it with the dreaded “why” or maybe it’s because of some parenting stuff you came down on me about a while back, but it seemed like maybe you were questioning me in a judge-y way”.

We then did something very rare! We had a very open and honest conversation about the whole thing!

She responded by totally being the bigger person. She defused the situation by telling me that she often asks me “why” because I usually have some pretty good answers to that question that make her want to do things differently herself – as a mother or as a wife.

Geez, talk about me misinterpreting her “why”!

I thanked her for calling me out on my defensiveness and once again admitted that I know it’s something I struggle with. And I need to be called out on it!

She was open and honest about her tendency to sometimes be judge-y 😄.

Here’s what we took away from the whole thing:

1. We realized that we were seeing first hand why almost every good marriage book says NOT to ask our husband’s “why”? It’s a “disrespect” word and almost always gets a negative/defensive response.
2. We realized how insecurities can cause us to react differently than we should.
3. We realized that we need to get out of other people’s heads and try to take things at face value.
4. We realized that a gentle/soft answer turns away wrath/deflects anger, but a harsh word stirs up anger/makes tempers flare. Proverbs 15:1
5. We realized that she’s judge-y and I’m defensive (which is a kind of lethal combination when you think about it! But God is using it to help us sharpen each other). And we realized, once again, that despite these flaws, we love each other. And we thank God that we have a friendship where we can talk about our faults so openly.

And guess what, all of those things can be applied to other relationships as well – marriage to name one!

So check your “why’s” in all of your relationships.

Replace them with something like, “That’s cool that you did that – what made you think of that?” Or use “I’d like to hear more about that.”

And sometimes if we don’t agree, we can say it a little nicer. Like maybe, “I’m not sure I understand that decision you made. Can you help me understand it because maybe it’s something I should consider myself?”

Yeah, it’s a lot more words and guys don’t love words. But believe me, in this case, your husband won’t mind!

And you know that the more words you use with your girlfriends, the more they will love you 😃!

Merrie Beth

You know how when someone has something rough to tell you, they always ask you what you want first?  The good news or the bad news?  And then you have to decide if you want the good news first to cushion the blow of the bad news or if you want the bad news first so that the good news brings your spirits back up?

Well, 10 days ago I was presented with some very unexpected bad news.

In my case, the bearer of the news didn’t even ask me if I wanted the good news or the bad news first.

I knew there was bad news coming because I got the call that went something like this:

Nurse: “We have the results of your biopsy (the one I hadn’t even thought about since the day I had gotten it and was told everything looked fine) and the doctor wants to see you.”

Me (confused): “Oh.  Umm.  Okay.  Sure (what doctor is this again?).  When does she want to see me?”

Nurse: “Now.  Can you come right now?”

Me:  “Umm, no, I’m sorry, I have a nail appointment this afternoon”.

Just kidding :).  Is there any answer to that question other than “I’ll be right there!”?

Of course my mind immediately went to “The Big C”.  Isn’t that what biopsies diagnose?  What could be worse news than that?

So, I already knew there was bad news of some sort coming.

But, before I even crossed the “which news do you want first” bridge, I already knew I had the capital-G, capital-N Good News and that whatever bad news there was coming my way, I knew that HE had his hands all over it!

What Good News is that?  Who is HE?  Well, the Good News of Jesus Christ, that’s who.

The Good News that gives us strength when we don’t think we can do it and peace that surpasses all understanding and faith that He will work all things out for good for those who love him!  Not that things always turn out for what we believe is our earthly “good” – but that He will use whatever comes our way for His good!

I was with a good friend when I got the call. We had just come back from an 8th grade school field trip with our sons and were getting ready to part ways, grab our kids from school and head home when the phone rang.

I immediately started to cry after I hung up.  I told her what had happened and she immediately grabbed both of my hands and started to pray.

She prayed for peace and strength and for the bad news to be somehow tempered with little-g, little-n good news when I got to the doctor.

I got the kids, ran home and grabbed my husband and he and I headed to the doctor’s office.  I told him on the way that I hoped the doctor would start our meeting with, “There’s no need to worry but….”

Before we went in, my husband threw up a quick prayer that we would have the strength to deal with whatever the doctor had to say.

Unfortunately, the doctor didn’t start with “Don’t worry but….”  She started with, “I have some bad news.”

And then, “We got the results of your biopsy and I’m sorry to say that it showed some cancer“.

As I sat there kind of stunned, she followed that up pretty quickly with the little-g, little-n good news.  “I think we’ve caught it very early.  It’s very RARE to catch it this early.  Thank God you had the endoscopy with your husband!”

Rewind:

A couple weeks before I got the bad news, my husband was scheduled  for an upper endoscopy.  He was having some digestive problems that had him thinking he was having some heart issues.  I thought the issues were all tied together, but mainly digestive issues,  because of some stuff I was learning in an Anatomy class I was taking (which made me an expert :)).  So I asked my husband’s cardiologist if he thought that we should look in to the digestive issues before jumping to any conclusions about heart issues.

So we went off to the gastroenterologist  together and she ordered an upper endoscopy for my husband.  He was anxious to get it done right away and scheduled if for the following week.

I had been having heartburn/GERD issues for YEARS – as in like 20 years!  So during my husband’s appointment, since she was ordering an endoscopy for him,  I asked the doctor is she could do an endoscopy on me too – just to be sure I wasn’t doing any damage to myself with the years of heartburn.

I would have probably put up with it for 10 more years if my husband and I hadn’t been sitting in that office that day for him!

My grandfather actually passed away from esophageal cancer (at 94 years of age!) almost 5 years ago, which is what put it on my radar screen.

I didn’t know this then, but esophagus cancer is a rare cancer to begin with (about 12,000/year in the US get this type of cancer).  It’s one rarely caught early because there usually are no symptoms until the cancer has grown large enough to interfere with swallowing.  And at that point, it has a very low survival rate.

My husband ended up getting a cold and couldn’t get his endoscopy on the day he had originally scheduled.  So in the meantime, I had my appointment with the doctor to set up my endoscopy and we ended up getting the procedure done together!

You’ve heard of couples massages?  We got couples endoscopies on March 14.  We literally followed that up with a couples massage on March 23rd.  I know, kind of crazy right?  We sound like those annoying 16 year olds that wear matching shirts :).

We each got diagnosed with acute esophagitis and gastritis (inflammation of the esophagus and stomach) from our couples endoscopies – yes, matching diagnoses.  And we were each put on the same prescription proton pump inhibitor.

But thank God, only one of us got the bad news.  And as corny as all the couples, matchy-matchy stuff above sounds, I was honestly glad it was me.

For one thing, I was getting ready to have some time on my hands to deal with it.  I had a final Physics exam the day after I received the diagnosis and then I would be done with school for 5 months until my core program starts.

Secondly, God blessed me with the ability to grin and bear medical poking and prodding.  I don’t like it.  Nobody likes it!  But I can tolerate it.  And I don’t worry too much about it.  My husband, not so much!  So it’s not like there was a choice who would receive the bad news, but if one of us was going to go down this road, I was glad it was me.

Fast Forward to today (10 days later):

I’ve been poked and prodded. I’ve read no less than 100 articles about esopahgeal adenocarcinoma (mostly about the unbelievable rarity of catching it early and having a good prognosis).  I’ve had a CT scan that, praise God, showed nothing has metastisized nor is there lymph node involvement in my chest and stomach.  I’ve been to an oncologist, a gastro specialist and back to the original gastro doctor for appointments and a repeat endoscopy and biopsies.  Tomorrow I have a PET scan which also checks for any distant metastatisis.  By Tuesday or Wednesday (April 8th or 9th), I should have a pretty clear picture of where I stand.

But so far,  it seems to be a miraculous discovery with a good prognosis.

But wherever I stand when the dust settles, I know that God has me in the palm of His hand!

As an aside:

In 2010, I had a trial in my marriage that seemed bigger to me than the diagnosis I received on March 26.

The trial did a few things for me.  It grew me in Christ like nothing ever has before.  While I was walking with the Lord already at the time, I had a microwave conversion of sorts where my walk was concerned.  It showed me that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God can be trusted to give us what we need when we need it and that He is with us every step of the way.  My marriage was not only restored, but  it became more than I could  have imagined in my wildest dreams – and it’s exactly what I need for “today’s” trial.

God promises that He will do more than we could ever hope or imagine.  He promises that he has a plan for us – plans to give us a future and hope.  And he says we have no need to fear!  He kept all His promises in 2010.  And I know he will do that for me in 2014, even if it doesn’t include the outcome that I hope you will all join me in praying for!

I could not have made it through last week’s bad news without the trial I went through in 2010.  That trial has been the gift that keeps on giving and I know this one will be too.

So am I worried about last week’s bad news or any bad news I may receive this coming week or beyond?

No!

Why? Because no matter what the bad news is, I already have the capital-G, capital-N Good News!  And you can handle any bad news if you have the Good News first!

Love this from one of our MOMs at our MOMs ministry-Gianina. My favorite line-“Whether you realized it or not at the time, you voted for your CEO on your wedding day, and he’s in office for life.”

Source

I was recently talking to a friend of mine.  She had just heard, second-hand, some pretty mean (and generally untrue) things about herself!

On the surface, the stuff sounded really harsh!  I felt such compassion for her!

Her immediate reaction was to defend the criticism with her version of the truth.

I listened as she explained to me all the unkind things she had heard about herself.

When she called me, she was MAD!  She called them all LIES!  TOTAL LIES!

As she started to calm down, she recounted each lie and then told me how some of those lies might have come about.

The more she talked, the more we both realized that there actually was a little bit of truth in each thing she’d heard.

The problem was that the little bit of truth had been heavily embellished with “always” and “never” statements.  And each half-truth had its own untold back story.

As she found a tiny bit more truth in each statement that she had initially defended vigorously, and as the anger started to melt even more, it gave way to self-doubt.  She started to doubt herself in big ways.  And she started to say things, kind of to convince both of us, like “I’m NOT a bad mother!” and “I’m NOT a bad wife”!

She was VERY concerned about what others thought of her who may have heard the same lies.

She felt like she had this stamp on her forehead defining her as a bad mother and a bad wife even though much of what was said was only half of the story, at best.

I found something come out of my mouth at that moment that I must have gotten from a pastor or some speaker somewhere because I don’t recall ever saying it or thinking it myself – but I liked it!

I said, “Friend, don’t let this define you.  Let it refine you.”

I told her she was right.  She is NOT a bad mother NOR a bad wife.  And that she definitely had every right to be hurt and angry.  For a time.

BUT, I also felt that she had been blessed with the information!  It was information that had never been shared with her directly and that she might have NEVER known!  And it was VALUABLE information despite the harsh and over-exaggerated way that it had been delivered to her.

The fact was that this was someone else’s PERCEPTION.  And while the facts may not have been totally true from a “never” and “always” and “you-don’t-have-the-whole-picture” standpoint , perceptions are very true to the person perceiving them!

I told her that she would be missing a HUGE opportunity if she didn’t allow SOME of what was said to REFINE her!

By the end of the conversation, she was still angry.

But she saw that there was definitely a reason that God had brought this information to her – and that she had to look at it as an opportunity to grow.

I had a controlling person once get in to a heated argument with me about how controlling I am!  It was a friend.  And she was mad at me for suggesting that a table could be put “here” instead of “there” at a school outreach function.

She said some really ugly words to me like “nobody likes you” and “you need to stop telling people what to do or they are going to quit” (I was in a VOLUNTEER leadership position at a Christian School – you know the kind right? :)).  She even brought up a personal thing I was dealing with and said I was getting “too involved” there too.

Man, the words stung!  I was really, really mad at her at first.

Then I calmed down and sent her an apology.  For my part.

But I realized a lot of things from that interaction.   At that point in my walk, thank God,  I was mature enough to know that I had to get some lesson from the interaction.

I wasn’t going to consider myself a “failure” and quit my “job” (tempting as it was :)) or define myself as a “bad leader” because I suggested a table be moved at an outreach function.

So, once the pain subsided and the tears dried up, this is what I walked away with:

First is that I struggle with control 🙂  There, I’ve said it.  Considering that I used to be a “Corporate Controller” for about 10 years, I should have already known that – I came by it rather naturally – but this woman cemented the awareness part for me!  In corporate america or when you’re trying to lead the PTA, it has its definite pluses.  In most other relationships, it can be a problem!

Not long after that interaction, I realized that control was not only eroding my relationship with God, but it was eroding my most important earthly relationship – the one with my husband.  So maybe I owe this woman more than an apology – maybe I owe her a thank you for the wake up call!

Second is that others tend to criticize, in others,  the very things that they don’t like about themselves.   So I started to be more aware of that character trait in myself – because I’m the only one I have any control over (hmmm… there’s that word again).

Third is that you need to set boundaries in your life around certain people.  It’s one thing to turn the other cheek.  It’s quite another thing to keep making your face available for the smackings.

Lastly, hurt people hurt people.  It took me longest to learn this last one.  And I think it’s most of what my friend above was experiencing too.  Sometimes people have to make you feel small to make themselves feel bigger because they feel so small to begin with.  I’ve learned to have a healthy compassion for people who are struggling with this instead of spending all of my time whining about the wounds that they’ve inflicted on me from their place of brokenness.

The next time you hear something about yourself that has you immediately in defense or offense mode, take a step back and remember that you are either experiencing a test or a blessing and there is a reason why God is allowing you to walk through the process.

It’s to refine you.  To make you more like Him.

Don’t let criticism define you.  Despite how you’re feeling at the moment of delivery, it is only God’s opinion of you that matters.  And he thinks you’re really awesome!!

I follow the blog peacefulwife.com.  If you want to read more about this topic as it relates to marriage, she has a great post here about accepting constructive criticism from our husbands!

Merrie Beth

2007

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs this past week about how much pressure we put on our husbands to perform on Valentine’s Day and how our expectations set them up for failure (see link below).

So I want to share a different idea with you. This won’t work for every family but it might just work for yours.

First of all, let me tell you that this Valentine’s Day idea is NOT something I came up with because I’m the best wife or mother ever.  In fact, in between the start of this tradition and now, my marriage almost totally self-destructed because I wasn’t the best wife ever.  And if it had destructed, that wouldn’t have helped my best-mother-ever status any either.  This is something I wish I’d have come up with because I was already the best wife ever!  Nope.

The almost-self-destruction that I mentioned was for a million different reasons that aren’t part of this post.  I just wanted to mention it because while I wish this was part of an original plan to give my husband tons of honor and show my ability to selflessly serve him on a consistent basis (like we should be doing), that’s NOT how this all got started.

But I propose to you, in hindsight, and taking no credit, that this idea is brilliant for many different reasons!

This Valentine idea to take this “chick holiday” and use it to serve our guys (instead of sitting around waiting for them to do what we do best!) got started by my daughter. When she was about 7 years old, she was really in to all of the Valentine’s Day stuff (like any little or big girl would be!).  She was just getting in to decorating and baking and whatnot.  So she asked if we could decorate for Valentine’s day.  One thing led to another and we came up with this idea to decorate FOR the guys and serve THEM on this Holiday!

That first year (and every year since), we asked the guys to go out for a little while so Haley and I could prepare the dinner and the decorations.  The first year it was a surprise but now they know the drill.  While the girls are preparing, Dad takes Steven out to bond with him over last-minute-holiday shopping for the girls so that he’s getting some good training in there too!

Here are some pictures from our first year:

Welcome home heart streamers

The table

And we made a big deal of decorating the table with all kinds of little details.

The Peaceful Wife blogged about how Valentine’s Day puts a LOT of pressure on guys (see The Peaceful Wife’s post here about that).  This might be your husband’s love language (to shower you with homemade dinner, gifts and decorations) but I’m guessing it’s not!  If it is, please don’t even think about taking this pleasure away from him!  But if your husband is like most men, this idea of my daughter’s would take a TON of pressure off of him and also THRILL your sons or other children.  My son love, love, loves Valentine’s Day because of us!  He squealed the first year he came home to this as a 6-year-old!  His future girlfriends will probably hate us for it – I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with that one!

And guess what?  Serving takes your mind off of those pesky expectations you might have about what you’ll be RECEIVING.

Here are some more pictures from other annual dinners that we hosted for “our guys”:

2008

2011

This year we even made our own edible fruit bouquet!

In 2012 we got matching aprons!

We made our own gourmet strawberries

My husband provided the roses!  Each person gets a gift bag from the hosts (us girls).

Haley even decorated Steven last year!

So far, this year, we have purchased some heart-shaped cake pans and a LOVE cake pan from Target.  We are going shopping for groceries and decorations on Monday.

Your family make-up might be different.  You might have all boys or a mixture or just one child – or none!  But you can adapt this however you see fit.  The key is to get in to service mode and not be sitting around waiting for your husband to do it the way you’ve envisioned in your head.

A commenter on The Peaceful Wife blog said that “expectation is premeditated resentment”.

So stop thinking about what your husband is going to do for you and start thinking about what you can do for him!

Friday, February 1, at our monthly MOM’s meeting, Marcy Beaupied guest-spoke for Vickie in the Happy Heart segment. She mentioned the book “one thousand gifts” by Ann Voskamp.  The book, which encourages you to focus on seeing the beauty/God in everything, encourages you to start keeping a gratitude journal (looking for one thousand “gifts” to be thankful for).

one thousand gifts ~ Ann Voskamp

At the meeting, Marcy took it one step further and suggested we start a gratitude journal with our kids.  I loved this idea!

Marcy had actually given me this book two Christmas’s ago as a thank you gift!  I was immediately on fire to list 1,000 things I was thankful for!  I found myself keeping my eyes so much wider open for all the little things we usually take for granted.

Unfortunately, as I do with many things, I got started and then kind of lost my motivation.  I even downloaded the app on my phone that encourages you to take pictures of things that you are thankful for.  That was right up my alley.  But the journal and the book, and even the app, kind of disappeared in to the bowels of my house.  And so did my motivation.

Gratitude Journal

Well, guess what I ran across when I was getting my marriage books ready for MOMs last Friday?  The gratitude  journal that I had no idea Marcy was going to talk about!!

Guess how many “gifts” were listed in my 1,000 gifts journal?  15!!!  How lame is that??  I was 985 short of my goal!  I did, however, also find that deeper in the journal, I had listed my “Top 10 things of 2011” and my daughter had made a list too.  It was fun to look back on those lists (consider adding that to your journal since 2012 is still pretty fresh in your mind!).  I think that extra “top ten” list brings me short of my goal by only 975 :).

Well, having rediscovered the journal, I decided that I had a second chance to get immersed in gratitude.  So I immediately started adding to the list and quickly got it up to 20 (yeah, I’m a high achiever).

After Marcy told us about getting the whole family involved, I was even more excited to get the whole thing going again with all of us.  So I added a section for each family member.

I got the opportunity to run it by the family the following Tuesday at dinner.

That night, my son had piano lessons after school.   My husband, Courtney,  usually gets home around 5:30, give-or-take.  He had gotten home while Steven was at his lesson.  Well, as we came down our street from the lesson, Steven saw Courtney’s truck in the driveway and, as excitedly as a 5-year-old, said  “Dad’s home”?  He said it like he had just won the lottery!  And he’s not 5.  He’s a 5′ 6″, 12.5 year old man-child that looks like Justin Beiber :).

My 12-year-old man-child

I wondered if he and his Dad had some plans or something and he said no – he was just excited that Dad was home.   He said, “Aren’t you?” (again, he said this like we should both be jumping up and down doing a happy dance).  And I said, “YES”! (minus the happy dance because I reserve that for the specialest of occassions-like in the middle of the grocery store when I’m with my horrified, eye-rolling,  teenage daughter).

Well, we went in to the house and right to the dinner table.  I pulled out the now-family gratitude journal because I was dying to share with all of them what had just happened in the car (my son’s excitement that Dad was home) and to tell them what I had written in the journal just days before.  I saw it as a great opportunity to affirm my husband!

So I shared my son’s excitement over his Dad being home and then I told them about the gratitude journal.  And I read to them what I had written only days before.

16.  When I get home and Courtney’s truck is in the driveway!

Does this impact you the way it impacted me?!    Steven put kid-like words and enthusiasm to what I feel in my heart when I see my husband’s truck in the driveway-a feeling I had just “documented” in my gratitude journal!

And now we had an opportunity to let my husband know what he does to us inside!!  Alhough my daughter is a bit more reserved, she also is a gigantic fan of Dad’s truck being in the driveway-but her happy dance happens on the inside!

Well,the whole thing reminded me of a country song – and not just because my husband drives a pick up truck!

Billy Currington sings a song called “Love Me Like My Dog.  I don’t know where I heard this song but when I did, I was overwhelmed with a “that’s it!” feeling!  I mean who doesn’t want to be loved like their dog loves them??  You can leave for 5 seconds to run and grab something  out of your car and when you get back in the house, your dog acts like you just got back from a 2 year military deployment!  He literally “smiles” with his tail and his tongue and his paws!  He doesn’t know how he lived without you for the past 5 seconds!!!  And let’s be honest, when your dog treats you like that, you can’t help but pick him up and pet him and rub his belly and let him lick your whole face (which is really gross if you pay attention to what he does with that tongue on other occassions-but that’s beside the point).

zazzle.com

Here’s the chorus:

I want you to love me like my dog does baby
When I come home want you to just go crazy
He never looks at me like he might hate me
I want you to love me like my dog

My son and I realized this week that seeing my husband’s truck in the driveway makes our tails wag!  And we told him so!

We should be loving our husbands like “his dog” does.  Or like his son does.  Or like his daughter does.  Or how about this – like Christ does.

If your tail isn’t connected to your heart right now, just start wagging anyway and keep praying.  Eventually God will connect your heart to your tail!

I’m so thankful that God put that excitement in my heart for my husband (I had to fight to get it back a few years ago with God’s help!)!  I pray that He will do the same for you.  I think I’ll make that #21 in my our family gratitude journal….

21. For putting a new heart in me so that I can love my husband like his dog does.

Pop Pop Dave’s Orchid
A Story of Hope
As told to Merrie Beth Day by Mara Mulder Bonsanti (paraphrased)

In May, 2007, Dave Mulder, Bethany Christian School’s headmaster, was diagnosed with cancer. After a courageous battle, he went to be with the Lord on May 19, 2008, at only 53 years of age. He was survived by his parents, 3 siblings, his wife of 34 years, Mara Mulder Bonsanti (Bethany’s current music teacher!), 6 children (1 who predeceased him) and 7 grandchildren (with one on the way at the time).

The Mulders in 2008

Dave and Mara were blessed with 5 girls and 1 boy. Their son, Jeremy, and his wife Christi (back row, 2nd and 3rd from the left), a pastor and social worker, realized after many years of marriage that the chances of having their own biological children were slim.

Right before Dave received his diagnosis, Jeremy and Christi decided that they would open up their hearts to adoption.

After several foster care placements, they started caring for a set of twin boys who were born prematurely and were placed in foster care because of the biological parents’ ongoing struggle with addiction. Jeremy and Christi became foster parents to the 3 lb. boys with the intention of adopting them.

Less than a year later, while still fostering the twins and working through the adoption process, the mother of the boys called Jeremy and Christi to say that she was expecting another child and she wanted Jeremy and Christi to take the new baby too! On the day of her delivery, Jeremy and Christi brought Michael and Anthony’s sister Jada home with them.

Three months later, Jeremy’s father Dave went to be with the Lord.

At Dave’s funeral, the Bethany PTF put out orchids on each of the tables in the fellowship hall. Dave’s wife, Mara, took one of the orchids home and mounted it on a tree in their yard in Miami. South Florida is blessed with a subtropical climate which lends itself to the cultivation of tropical plants. It usually takes about a year for orchids to bond with the trunk of a tree. But years later, Mara’s orchid, now shriveled and lifeless, had never bonded!

In the summer of 2011, after more than 10 years of inability to conceive, a series of God-incidences led to news that the family had thought “impossible” – Jeremy and Christi were expecting! As the adoption of Michael, Anthony and Jada was being finalized in the Fall of 2011, they learned something more – Jeremy and Christi were expecting another set of twins! This time, twin girls!

Avery Grace and Nora Abigail Mulder were born on April 20, 2012. Mara was able to fly up to New Jersey to join Jeremy, Christi, Michael, Anthony and Jada as they welcomed their miracle babies!

Mara said that with every new grandbaby, there is always a sadness that Pop Pop (Dave) can’t be there. She says that she always wonders if he knows. If maybe he can see? Or if maybe Dave somehow feels the grandbaby’s arrivals up in Heaven.

Well, remember the orchids that Mara planted on the tree from Dave’s funeral? The orchids never bloomed in the almost 4 years since Dave had passed away. In fact, a few weeks earlier, Mara and her husband had discussed removing the dead vines and wire from the tree because it was clear that there was no life there – not unlike what Jeremy and Christi had experienced in their journey to concieve.

But Mara couldn’t bring herself to remove the dead vines because, to her, they were a part of Dave.

The day that the twins were born, Mara’s husband, who had stayed behind in Miami, emailed this photo to Jeremy and Christi:

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This is a picture of Pop Pop Dave’s orchid on the day the twins were born. Four years later, after absolutely no sign of life, God sent this undeniable sign to them that nothing is impossible with Him! And that He cares about every little detail of your life!

Are you struggling with something “impossible”? A “dead” marriage, “dead” finances, a “dead” relationship, a “dead-end” quest to be parents? Feel like there’s no hope? Then you haven’t given your situation to the Mulder’s God!

God CAN do immeasurably more than we could ever hope or imagine! (Eph. 3:20)

Jeremy and Christi Mulder with their 5 children