Thursday, October 4, 2012

My Friend With QUINTUPLETS~Inspiring Story of Faith & Trust

Last week, my daughter Mary and I went to have lunch in the home of my friend Nancy. I came home thinking not only how blessed Nancy was with her beautiful family—but what a picture she is of Christ's endurance and joyliving in her.

You see Nancy gave birth to 5 children—on the same day.

Yep, when her little Anna was two years old, she had her 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th children on the same day! She is the amazing mother of quintuplets!


We've been talking on Mondays and Thursdays on a special series on trusting God (especially with suffering). Our supreme model is Jesus who suffered and died for us. "Jesus for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame." (Heb.12:2)

Nancy had to be on bed rest for SIX MONTHS. What physical endurance! She had to be hospitalized for the last 6 weeks before their birth. Upon finding out that Nancy's body was holding 5 little babies in the ultrasound, her doctor wanted to begin to "eliminate" them. Now Nancy and her husband were faced with spiritual endurance! 

Nancy and her husband wanted life for all their babies, and wanted a doctor that would do all he or she could do to help Nancy and her husband help the babies thrive. So they left that doctor that day knowing that they now had no doctor to help them.

After prayer and searching, they eventually found a physician who was like-minded about choosing life for all their babies who had an understanding heart. Their new doctor was stretched herself about broadening what "family care" really could mean! Through the process she learned from Nancy and her husband as she witnessed their desire to be very involved in their babies' prenatal care and development.

Nancy was told early on that it was best for the babies for her not to experience highs and lows—which can bring on early labor. This meant: no great excitement—no big periods of crying.

She only cried one time, and didn't cry again in her pregnancy (after her husband left on her first night of her 6 week hospital stay before the children's birth). She truly wanted to endure her pregnancy and bed confinement in the manner that would be best for her babies. She was committed to doing everything she could to protect her babies.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." (Philippians 2:3-4)

Nancy endured for the sake of her children. And then came the joy!

Feast your eyes on Nancy's joy set before her! 

So from the left, it's Martin, (Yikes! I cannot remember this beautiful girl's name on Martin's right! Come back to the blog later for an update! I'm back, it just popped into my head when I was doing something else.....it's Maggie!!), Grace, Big Sister Anna, Emery, and Ellie. ☺ I'm back for the second time! Sue from CA below is not one bit mixed up on the names. L to R, it's Martin, Ellie, Grace, Anna (big sis), Emery, and Maggie. Phew! How did Nancy keep up with all those names when they were babies! More on this wonderful Christ-lovin' family! Thank you, Sue, for keeping me straight!
I asked all the children if they every get lonely. No way! Three of the girls share a bedroom, the other two share a bedroom, and Martin, well being the only guy has it's advantages... he has his own room!  One person rotates out of the 3 girl room every year (or was it every 2 years? I'm glad they can keep up better than me!) so that everyone gets equal time at getting to share a bedroom with just one other sibling.

They home-school and share some of the textbooks. They work it out nicely between themselves and flip flop subjects so they don't don't need the same textbook at the same time. They are busy with extracurricular activities and they belong to a co-op that they attend weekly with other home-schoolers.

Nancy says her hubby is good at fixing all the things that break, like the dishwasher! She said a dishwasher at her house is used way more than the amount dishwashers are normally used! So yes, they break! 

Nancy finds cooking very relaxing (her kids say she is a great cook!) She loves just getting to be at home during the not-so-busy times when they are not going back and forth to enrichment classes and activities.

I met Nancy when I was 26. She became one of my first new friends after becoming a Christian. She was a Christian already, and I met her in the singles group at church. I loved Nancy's sweet spirit, and we did a lot together. She was praying all the while for me to give my heart to Christ. The night I finally did, I drove over to Nancy's but she wasn't there. I left her a note under her windshield wiper to tell her that I had given my heart and life to Christ!

We went our separate ways, and we exchange Christmas Cards, but we don't really get to see one another. We email a few times a yearalways hoping to be able to get together. My children (4) and her children (6) did get together at a playground when the kids were much younger. Several people at the playground asked us if we were a preschool!

We ran into one another recently in Trader Joe's! (we don't live near each other, so that was such a wonderful surprise!) That was all it took, and not many days later my youngest and I went to Nancy's to spend the afternoon at their house. We walked into her home to the inviting smell of bread and pesto cooking in the oven!  She had made delicious homemade pizzas! I think we had 4 or 5 pizzas for all of us!

Here's Nancy with her oldest, Anna, at Trader Joes!

I asked Nancy if she was scared when she had her first child, Anna. She said she was terrified. She married at 32, and had Anna at 36. Two years later, she was pregnant with the quintuplets.

I asked Nancy was she scared as she thought of delivering five babies.

She said she was not.

I was shocked, until I heard Nancy say why she was not scared.

"I didn't even have a doctor! I had to trust God totally!"

❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧❧

How about you? Is God asking you to trust Him completely in some area of your life?

Are you facing something that is painful?

Can you see any joy that can come afterward?

Could it possibly be to have an opportunity to forgive?

Could it be learning how to be a better wife, mother, or friend? 

Can you think of the joy to help you endure your present suffering? 

Practice looking for the joy and keep looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith!  He will give you the strength to do His will!

"Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about
 with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, 
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, 
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, 
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, 
and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
~Hebrews 12:1-2

Walk by Faith,

5 comments:

  1. Enjoyed this story Juana. Thank you!!!

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  2. I love this beautiful and fabulous family! they all spur me on in my walk with Jesus. (just for clarification: Ellie is between Martin and Grace, and Maggie is in the pink=)

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    1. oops. I don't know how to enter this without clicking anonymous, but the above doesn't need to be anonymous. It is lovingly from Sue from CA.

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    2. Oh Thank you Thank you, Sue!!! Could this be Sue H. from CA? I am dying to know!!! I am putting a note right now to correct the names! Thank you so much for straightening that out!

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    3. By the way, you should see Reply as: and then a box that has a pull down menu in it. You click the arrows on the blue background to give you a choice how you would like to sign in. You can select Name/URL if you want to put your name. I'm not sure if you get those options if you're replying from your phone!

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