The Fateful Day

This is Rachel helping out during and outreach in Mexico

I had plenty of time last night to think about what I would include in today's post. I was lying in bed with my eyes wide open listening to interesting sounds produced by the air flowing through Rachel's sinus tissues which have been weakened and relaxed by the pregnancy hormones. I guess that was a long way to say that Rachel has been snoring since about the 6th month. Last night was no exception.

In mid June of last year Rachel and I were having the time of our lives working together leading missions teams into Mexico to love on people and show them Jesus. While we knew that things were suspiciously off kilter, I had convinced myself that a pregnancy was surely light years away. The thought of having a baby was still very abstract and incomprehensible to me. One night after a long day in Mexico, Rachel headed home to rest and I stayed back at the church to be part of the evening service with the Missions teams. I work for a very cool pastor here, and when he saw me there without Rachel, he slipped me some money and invited me to get home and take my wife out for a nice dinner. His timing was perfect. Just as I turned the ignition key on my Jeep, I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. It was Rachel! I was excited to tell her the good news about the gift from the pastor, and I already had several ideas regarding our evening meal. When I answered there was silence. I spoke again, "Rachel?"

A sweet, teary voice that I will never forget answered, "Jeremy". "Rach, what is going on? Are you OK?" After a few sniffles she replied, "Jeremy, it's positive. It's positive." Something sucked the air out of my lungs and my face went numb. "What are you talking about?" "I stopped by the store on my way home and bought a pregnancy test," sobbing now, "and Jeremy, it's positive. We are going to have a baby." I was driving quickly now, in silence for a while. Rachel was crying.

I think I asked her about a thousand times before we got home if she was completely sure that the results were, in fact, positive. I think I even had her read the instructions from the box out loud to me on the phone. After an eternity of driving and my mind fully immersed in the twilight zone, I arrived at home.

There was no fancy dinner that night. Rachel and I spent a few hours crying and praying together. I will admit that in my maleness (not insensitivity, just maleness) I made Rachel take like two more tests just to be sure. Once we held each other and dried off our faces, we celebrated by announcing the good news to our families..."You are going to be a grandma!!" Everyone received the news ecstatically and offered many kind words of encouragement. The adventure was just beginning!