October 1, 2013
My
Dearest Little Son,
Caleb Jonathan. “Caleb” – Because
we want you to be a trustworthy follower of the King. “Jonathan” – Because you
are an incredible “Gift from God.” That is your name, my son. I love you so
much already, even though we actually haven’t met yet. I have seen your cute
face in sonogram pictures, and your “long skinny legs” and adorable feet. I
have seen your hands – and felt all of you. You are a snuggler – an excited
snuggler – that loves to be SOOO close to mommy that you press and kick and
squeeze me all the time. Your daddy and
I are so blessed to be your parents; we are so excited that you belong to us.
God chose to give you life at just the perfect time in His eyes. And your life
has already been used to glorify and honor our Lord. He is the Forever King,
and you are here because of His wonderful mercy. You are such a gift.
I want to write some memories
down for you my sweet boy. I want you to get a glimpse of how much your parents
treasure you, how much we have longed for you. I want you to know about your
life while in my tummy – so small, you aren’t even born yet! I want you to
remember God’s faithfulness, and to remember the story of how you came to be.
Today I am 32 weeks and 5/7 days
pregnant with you. Do you know what that means? There is only 7 weeks and 2
days left till you are due to come into the world. I am thinking you might like
to stay in my tummy just a bit longer, but still – just 51 days until you are
perfectly ripe. I get to meet you next month! This morning you bounced even a
little more than normal. Your daddy and I watched you a while over breakfast.
First, my tummy went to the left – then the right. Then you shook it! Your foot
was poking in my ribs and your hands were pressing at my sides. You danced all
over the place. We thought you might be doing the hokey pokey until we realized
that you are just so excited about coming to meet us next month, you could
barely stand it. You are just like me, my little Caleb. I get excited about my
birthday weeks – months – in advance. You are just getting more and more
excited about your birthday. I look forward to always making sure you have a
special birthday. :)
We found out we were pregnant
with you on March 19th, 2013. You were such an answer to prayer.
Your Daddy and I had been told by special doctors that we would never have
children. God had made it so that our marital womb was closed – dead. As far as
we know it is still dead. That is why you are such a miracle – God brought life
from the dead when He made you. :) We spent many days crying and praying that
God would give us a baby. Every month, I would pray for you and sing you lullabies
just in case God answered our prayer. I remember last Thanksgiving; it was a
sweet time in our spiritual lives. We were in so much pain – so sad by the
effects of sin in our bodies. I remember crying that day. Some of your Aunties
cried too. But we were trusting and
waiting to see what God would do. We truly felt God’s nearness and God’s
comfort in our pain.
By February 2013, we decided that
we were going to ask God’s people to pray for us. All of our family and a number of friends
were already praying for you. But we felt the burden to share our prayer with
the church. We knew that God would His church to bring us comfort. But most of
all we recognized that prayer has incredible power because God loves to
listen. We knew that God would get so
much praise – so much honor – for how he chose to answer our prayer. We wanted
the whole church to know our struggle so that no matter how God chose to
answer, He would get honored and glorified.
We didn’t know how God would answer, or when He would. But we knew that
He would answer. And we knew that all the time we waited would be used to make
us love our God more. Your Daddy stood and talked with the church on February
24th, 2013.
That is when God brought us a
miracle. Not because of anything we did or because we deserved you – but
because He wanted to be honored right away. First we told our family. :) We had
an Easter Breakfast on March 30th
with the Foster side and dinner the same day on the Fasolino side. To each
family we presented a bag with tissue paper. And when the tissue paper was
removed, the most adorable and tiny shoes were at the bottom. A message was
attached giving praise to God that little feet would fill the shoes around
November 22nd, 2013 – your due date.
I gave the bag to your Grandma Foster when breakfast was almost done.
She was sitting across the table from me. I had tried to get everyone’s
attention but to no avail. :) My family loves to chat and have a good time – so
getting everyone to wait quietly for a moment was kinda hard. :) My mommy
pulled off the tissue paper and froze. I will always remember the tears in her
eyes. That is when your Auntie Ivy said, “Woa Guys! Hold on – Either it’s a
really bad joke or something really important is happening!” And her words got
everyone’s attention perfectly! Your grandma pulled out the shoes, everyone was
frozen, and your Grandpa, with teary eyes, whispered in awe to me from across
the table, “Are you expecting?” When I could only nod and smile, the entire
family immediately was in an uproar! The hugs were so special, everyone was so
happy and we all thanked God for you!
Your cousins, Abby and Luke had
to keep the secret all day till I got to tell Grandma and Grandpa Fasolino. We
went over to their house for dinner and desert, but it was so funny! I was kept
in suspense for much of the evening! Our Deacon’s wife had car
problems that evening. Her hubby was out of town on business, so all the men
folk – including your daddy and your grandpa – went to help her out. It took a long time for them to come back! Finally,
when they did come back I was bursting my buttons to share our news, but I
still had to wait to tell them about you. :) Why? Because you never stand in
the way of dinner’s progress if the Italian Papa is hungry. So after dinner, we
dragged the whole family together quite unceremoniously, and gave the present
to your Grandma Fasolino. She had no words – only tears! And immediately we
prayed and praised God for His amazing blessing! Your Grandpa Fasolino got the
biggest kick out of how God works – none of us could have imagined He would
answer our prayer like He did. :)
The next day, 5 weeks after your
Daddy stood up and asked the body to pray, he was standing again to praise our
Heavenly Father for his amazing provision. You were no bigger than a poppy seed
then. And we already loved you so much!
The entire church rejoiced! There was rejoicing in Texas, rejoicing
in the Hispanic church, rejoicing in Mexico, and rejoicing in Minnesota. Family
from all over the United States rejoiced and praised God! Your Daddy shared our
wonderful news on Resurrection Sunday, March 31st 2013. It was the
perfect Sunday to tell the church how God answered their prayer. Resurrection
Sunday is the anniversary of the day Jesus our Savior was raised from the
dead. God likes to bring life from the
dead. That is how the curse was conquered, that is how we are given eternal
life, and that is how you came to be. Life from the dead.
Telling the church was so
special, right from the beginning your life was used to bring honor to God.
That is always my prayer for you. That every day for the rest of your years –
your life will be one of praise to God.
Romans 4:13-23
13 For the promise to
Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come
through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For
if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and
the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath,
but where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 That is why it depends
on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be
guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to
the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us
all, 17 as it is written, “I have made you the
father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he
believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the
things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed
against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been
told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did
not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as
dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the
barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No distrust made him
waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave
glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was
able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his
faith was “counted to him as righteousness”. 23 But
the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but
for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from
the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up
for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
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