Thursday April 7 2016  SUCH AN EXQUISITE TREASURE

Wherever I go I always seem to meet diverse and interesting people.  Good people.  Real people.  When I watch the news I hear all the evil the world has to offer and I find myself wondering if there are any “good” people left.  And then my faith in mankind is once again restored when I meet the people I do as I travel. Going out in public places is sort of like me going to a playground.  There are so many interesting things to see and so many interesting people to talk to.  I believe that meeting strangers is one fine entertainment.  Especially when I am alone.  Rest assured, I engage in conversation only in safe places, and I take notice of my surroundings.

Daughter and husband wait patiently (most of the time) when I become engaged in a conversation, but just knowing they are standing back, waiting for me to finish, sort of takes the fun of it away.  I need no other entertainment.  I do not need to window shop, or browse, or engage with my IPhone.  I just look for people who seem receptive to conversation.  I never know where it will lead. 

Today I walked by a couple.  I spoke to the lady as I passed her and made the comment that I liked her T-shirt.  It had an interesting and bold statement across the front.  It said in big letters:

PROGUN

PROGOD

PROUD

AMERICAN.

It was clear that she did not understand what I said.  The man with her spoke a bit of English.  I could tell she asked him what I said and he told her.  She smiled and said thank you, thank you, very profusely.  Then she turned and asked the man something.  The man turned to me and asked me to wait.  He explained some things to the lady and turned back to me.  He explained to me that she didn’t understand what the shirt said and didn’t understand the word “PRO”.  I suppose I should never assume anything.  Usually if one wears a T-shirt with a logo it is a statement of their belief, or so I assumed.  She, however, didn’t have an inkling of what it said or meant.  We talked a bit and I found out that the lady is from Columbia and the man is from Costa Rica.  They do not live in the United States but are just visiting.  The shirt looked new and perhaps she had purchased it for the design.  No matter what it said, she was very happy I liked it.  I found their conversation very interesting and they were so excited to speak to an American.  I think they wanted to talk more but all I could think about was the fact that my husband and daughter were a few feet away, daughter’s arms crossed, just waiting for me to finish.  For over 11,000 miles of travel last year I never kept anyone waiting.  That was the perk for traveling alone.  Probably more of a perk for my husband than me.  But for me, the world was quite a playground and I could talk as long as I desired.

Meeting new people is a refreshing experience.  I enjoy their stories and I enjoy the wisdom that they offer when I ask them.  I did not ask for any advice today due to the language barrier and two pairs of eyes boring into the back of my head.  

My daughter is corrupting me while I am here.  My pants are tighter, my sugar consumption is higher, and it’s probably a good thing we are hitting the road in three days.  But oh, how I will miss her and her family (one husband and two dogs).  Rebecca has been so special from the day she was born.  We brought her home from the hospital when she was two days old.  I was so nervous that I could not even dress her.  The nurse dressed her for us.

Our baby girl; a precious gift from a young woman who chose to give her up for adoption, rather than have an abortion.  Her birth mother’s name is Carole.  I never forgot her name over all the years.  Carole held a special place in my heart.  I could only imagine the heartache and grief she must have gone through.  Throughout the years I prayed for her that God would honor her with a good life and more children in the future.  On Rebecca’s fifth birthday Rebecca asked me if I thought her birth mother ever thought about her on her birthday.  We always told Rebecca that God had chosen her to be our daughter and even though I was unable to carry her in my tummy God had chosen someone else’s tummy for her to grow in and that person was her birth mother.  We always told her that her birth mother loved her too but was unable to provide what she needed so we became her parents.

When Rebecca asked us the question on her fifth birthday I assured her that I was certain that her birth mother probably thought about her often and especially on her birthday.  Rebecca seemed to be born with an “old soul”, one with wisdom beyond her years.  She replied back to me, “I think I will pray for my birth mother every year on my birthday.”  I know I always did.

Time passed and when Rebecca was about 12 years old she asked if we minded if she found her birth parents.  We told her no, we would not mind and that we would do everything we could to help find her, but we wanted her to wait until she was 18 years old.  I actually started searching for her birth mother before she was 18, had some leads, but the trails were cold.  Before Rebecca was born we had met Carole and her mother Betts.  I searched using both names.  Years later I realized I was on the right track when I found a person with the same name as the birth grandmother.  I knew that her birth grandmother had her doctorate in psychology and worked as a school psychologist but the Betts I found lived in China and was a teacher at a college.  So to me, it was a dead end.

To make a very long, interesting, and God-intricate story short, I will say that when Rebecca was 30 years old we finally found her birth parents.  The story is amazing and someday I will write an entire blog about what happened to bring us together.  All I know it was in God’s timing and it was good.

Now Rebecca has two mothers and that too is good.  And Dave and I will be staying with Carole and her husband and family next week for three nights and two days.  We have stayed with them before but they lived in a different house.  It will be fun to see where they have moved.  They have also been to our home to celebrate Rebecca’s 31^st birthday.  It was so awesome to meet them.  God has been so good to their family.  She has a wonderful Christian husband, a son (born the same week as our son), and two daughters.  One of their daughters is also adopted.  They are blessed with 4 grandchildren and another to be born soon.  I consider Carole a very special friend.  A friend I carried in my heart for over 30 years and now very dear to me these past 10 years.

 

SUCH AN EXQUISITE TREASURE

By Kathleen Martens

April 7 2016

 

God is so awesome

In His plan for our life.

Even before conception

He has planned it right.

 

And when we walk according

To his splendid will,

He showers us with blessing

Our hearts to fill.

 

Though we have pain

And often time sorrow,

We grow with experience

In each tomorrow.

 

One mother’s loss

To another great joy

Giving another a gift

Of a little girl or boy.

 

And we are ever so grateful

For a mother’s great love

To sacrifice from self

Going far and above.

 

Thank you Carole

For the life that you gave.

Such an exquisite treasure

For us you saved.

 

Thank You God for allowing us to be the parents you chose for Rebecca.

Thank You God that Rebecca was the daughter you had picked out for us.

Thank You God for the wonderful relationship that Carole and her family have with our family.

Thank You Lord that you have orchestrated our lives to come together.

Thank You Lord for the gift of a newborn baby.

Thank You God for my computer.

 

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into our precious daughter’s life.  It is fun for me to go back and remember those happy times once again.

GOOD NIGHT AND GOD BLESS YOU.

P.S.  I will include a few photos of where we were today.  We went to a downtown area in West Palm Beach called CITY PLACE. It is a beautiful outdoor mall.  Thought you might like to see what a Florida outdoor mall looks like.  This is where I met the lady wearing the T-shirt.