A Day of Reflecting......

Yesterday was Elisabeth's 9th birthday. I cannot believe how fast the years have flown by!! Looking at Elisabeth most people see a happy, healthy little girl - very similar to many other little girls her age. As I was looking at her yesterday I began reflecting on everything that led up to her birth - it is truly a miracle.

You see Jeff and I had been told we couldn't have any more children. With each of her older brothers I went into labor earlier and earlier in the pregnancy. We knew having more wasn't good for me or for the baby. But there was a wonderful lady in our church back in Minot who was convinced that we needed a little girl - this lady was Grandma Clare.

From the time Nicholas was three years old Grandma Clare prayed daily that I would get pregnant and have a baby girl. Several times a year she would ask me if I was pregnant yet, to which I would reply, "Grandma, we can't have any more children." She would just give me a hug and smile, then tell me that God had told her I would have a little girl. We would smile back and promise her if we ever had that little girl we would name her after Grandma.

When Nicholas was 8 years old Grandma Clare's prayer was answered ~~ I was pregnant. Jeff and I were completely shocked, but Grandma wasn't. When we went over to her house that morning (something we did quite regularly) she told us before we could ever tell her. By this time Grandma was almost 90 years old and had several health problems, in fact, they only gave her a few more months to live.

I was very sick from the very beginning of the pregnancy and at 14 weeks things had gotten so bad I was told by the doctors that I was going to lose the baby and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it from happening. I was heartbroken. Each day I woke up wondering if that would be the day I would lose this precious baby - and each day Grandma Clare would call and tell me it wasn't going to happen, that she had prayed and God had given her complete peace in the knowledge that I would have "her little girl."

At 16 weeks my midwife said if I could just hold on 4 more weeks my baby would have a chance - and I did just that. At 20 weeks we had an ultrasound and found out Grandma was right, we were having a little girl. We took her the ultrasound pictures, thinking it was the only way she would ever see the baby. You see for each day that I continued to stay pregnant Grandma continued to deteriorate in her own health. At that time my prayers were, "Lord, let me have this little girl and let Grandma live long enough to hold her."


Well, grandma held on and on March 24, 1997 - the day before Grandma's 90th birthday - she called Jeff and told Jeff to make sure I was well rested because I was going to have the baby tomorrow......on Grandma's birthday. We tried to tell Grandma that they wouldn't let me deliver that early (I still had 11 weeks to go and they had already stopped my labor several times.) Why did we ever question Grandma on this?????

At 1 a.m. on March 25th my water broke unexpectedly. There was no way to stop the labor this time. At 7:30 a.m. I called Grandma to wish her a happy birthday and tell her that I was in the hospital - of course, she wasn't surprised.

At 4:15 p.m. Elisabeth Clare Olson was born - she was born on Grandma Clare's birthday. She was 11 weeks premature - but perfectly healthly...yet another miracle. Yes, she was tiny, but other than that there was not one single problem!!!

Grandma Clare got to hold her little angel two days later. To see the two of them together brought tears to everyone's eyes. So many answers to prayers were right there between the two of them. I know Grandma prayed that she would live long enough to see her prayer request answered - and she did. Grandma lived another 4 months and spent many hours with Elisabeth. Even today we have pictures of the two of them hanging in Elisabeth's room.

Elisabeth may not remember Grandma Clare in person, but she will grow up knowing just how special her birth was and the special lady that "prayed her down from Heaven."

Thanks for reading as I reflected on a very special day, a very special lady, and my precious little girl!!