Monday, December 1, 2008

Sadness and Joy

This is Mark, this evening I have the privilege of posting the events of our family life together.

This morning we went to see John's new audiologist, another friendly and helpful lady who is taking care of John's hearing aids, and we made new molds of the inside of his ears to make better fitting ear pieces as John continues to grow in all ways. This was a normal and good part of the day.

Following this we went to see the OB-Gyn for Gina, for we have been celebrating the life that was growing within her for the past week. Yet our joy in this was to be short for now, and yet will be, by God's grace in Christ, eternal. The child she was carrying within her for the past 8-9 weeks left us to return to the Lord who had given this precious little one life. There is no way to know if our baby was a boy or girl, yet we are not going to let this child go unnamed and unremembered. We have chosen to name the baby Katherine, in honor of Gina's mom who, through all the joy and now sorrow, has been there for us with wisdom, encouragement, and hope, even when we had none.

While this is a sad and heart-breaking day it has come also with notes of that eternal joy that I wrote above. When we told John that the baby we had been praying for all week was now in heaven, he signed 'baby with Jesus' and smiled at us. Such profound and simple faith speaks volumes. Even as tears fall, threatening to short out the keyboard, I can be as confident as King David who, while grieving the loss of his unnamed son, said, 'he will not come back to me, I will go to him.' In this way I can commend Katherine into the gracious hands of her loving Savior, Jesus Christ, knowing that we shall meet face to face and eye to eye someday and share the love eternally that we had hoped to here in this life. And if at that point we find that our baby girl is a baby boy I am sure he will forgive us and still love us.

9 comments:

Cheryl said...

I am so very, very sorry for your loss but rejoice with you in the life, both temporal and eternal, of your little Katherine. May God grant you His comfort.

Michelle said...

Mark, Gina and John,

I am so sorry to hear of your loss of baby Katherine. I had just caught up with the Looper mail and heard the news of Gina's pregnancy and then the prayer request. Please know that you will continue to be in my prayers.

Barb the Evil Genius said...

I am very sorry for your loss. Prayers are with you.

Gina said...

Thank you, all of you very much, your prayers are appreciated and needed.

Xrysostom said...

Mark and Gina, Stephanie, Laura, and I all mourn with you. Is there anything we can do right now to help?

Walt

Gina said...

Thanks Walt, Stephanie and Laura, and yes there is something you could do, Mark is planning to be at Winkel on Tuesday, he has done such a wonderful job of taking care of me during all this, he could sure use some extra care and encouragement.

Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr. said...

I thank God that He has given you joy in the midst of this trial. Prayers continue to ascend on your behalf.

Elephantschild said...

I'm sorry my condolences are so late, Gina. I'm catching up on various blogs, and am so sad to hear you've lost your little one.

The Lord bless and keep you in His tender care,

-Jenny/ elephantschild.

Susie Buetow said...

Hi Gina and Mark
So sorry for the loss. You are all in our prayers.