Emotional Challenge #1

A couple of weeks ago, Leah and I found out that my cousin Kristi is pregnant. The minute that Leah told me (I was at work at the time), I could tell that there was a "I'm putting on a happy face, but inside I'm dying" tone in her voice.

Kristi and Leah were best buds in high school. They sang in the choir together. Heck, the first time I really "noticed" Leah was at Kristi's birthday party. Truth be told, they probably laid awake together at slumber parties and planned their weddings together, even though they were only teenagers. There was a time when there friendship was a bit.....how shall we say....."strained", perhaps, but that's all water under the bridge and these days they are the best of friends. And frequent Spades partners. So Leah couldn't be any happier for Kristi and Joe than she is. But the fact remained that perhaps the unwritten rule had been broken--Leah got married first, so she was supposed to get pregnant first.

It was a tough few days for Leah. We know that it's all in God's hands. I tried to tell Leah that Kristi has been through a lot. For example, her daddy died 3 months before her high school graduation. Uncle Mike didn't get to see her graduate from college, and wasn't here to give her away at her wedding. And so on. I hope and pray that Kristi has the smoothest and complication-free pregnancy possible.

Leah and I haven't been that precise with the pregnancy planning. There were occasional charts, thermometer readings, and ovulation tests.....but in the end, I really don't feel like we could honestly say something like, "We've been trying for 6 months." Sure, there are the obvious methods of not preventing pregnancy, but anybody who has tried (successfully or otherwise) to conceive knows that it's about more than throwing away the contraceptives. God designed our bodies, and childbirth, from start to finish, is a miracle. For now, we must have faith that He alone, in His infinite wisdom, will bless us when he sees fit.

ECR