Across 3 Julys

Two years ago on July 2, 2006, our family welcomed Haddon. There's just something about my son's birthday that reminds me so much of God's provision.

When he was born, we were living with my husband's parents. We had moved from Woodland, California to Oregon after experiencing a very hard church split of sorts. Although my husband was wanted to stay on at the church there, we were faced with a choice of obedience to the Word or compromise. We stepped out in faith, choosing obedience, and in doing so, we were in a less than ideal financial situation. But God provided. He provided a home with family.

Haddon wasn't planned either. Our daughter was about 7 months old, and it had been about a month after moving, when the pregnancy test was positive. We had a month to go before health insurance started, but because I had Norah, I was on medication that was safer for pregnancy. God planned Haddon, and provided safety for him.

During the time in Oregon, my husband pursued different ministry positions, but one stood out as the place that he felt we should go. After months of contact, interviews, waiting, and a visit. It was clear that we should go to Grand Junction, Colorado. God provided a ministry.

But we still had to wait. Haddon, due on July 26th, needed to come. Then we could move, for if we stayed in Oregon for the birth, we wouldn't have to pay anything out-of-pocket. God paved the way for us to have our new baby surrounded by family, and gave patience to the church in Colorado.

My husband had scheduled to go to Grand Junction with his parents in search of a home. They were to leave on July 2nd- plenty of time before Haddon was due, and enough time for us to move in the middle of August. My water broke on the evening of July 1st. God ordained just the right time for Haddon to enter the world and labor to begin. The next morning would have been too late for his dad to be there for his birth.

When Haddon was born, they whisked him away, and my husband followed. Our baby's blood sugar was too low, and it took about 5 days in the NICU for him to level out. Because we were on state health insurance, and because we didn't move to Colorado before he was born, we didn't pay for anything. God took care of my son. God cared for our family.

A week later, my in-laws, along with my husband, left for Grand Junction. They returned without a home. The housing market in Grand Junction was highly competitive at the time. Houses were being sold in a day. The evening that they returned home, we received a call. There was a house coming on the market... it seemed perfect. After members of our new church looked at it, and described it to us via the phone, we put an offer in... so did two other potential buyers. The house didn't even have a "For Sale" sign out front yet. Our offer was chosen. God gave us a house, less than 1 mile from the church and the church offices.

Now I can sit here in our God-provided home, having been in Colorado for nearly 2 years, and I know that I could write so much more about the sovereign grace given us across these last 3 Julys.