Issue 3, Dec 2007
December is such a busy month. There is so much going on that we are liable to forget that the season is all about a Child born into a wonderful family, sent by our heavenly Father to rescue us all from eternal death.
Arlene and I are so excited about us finally being a family, not just a married couple. You will have to forgive me if I don't stop talking about Megan, our new baby daughter. There has never been a little girl more wonderful than her. I know, I know. I'm carrying on like a new daddy, but that's what I am and I can't stop bubbling and acting foolish. I brag about her whenever I have the chance.
A couple years ago Arlene and I argued endlessly about having children. She wanted a baby, but I felt it was too soon. "We’re young and I’m just getting a good footing in my career," I said. "There will be time later to have a family." When we had a family I wasn't going to do what my dad had done, abandon his kids. I reminded her that her boss recently gave her a nice raise and told her how proud he was of her performance. Why would she want to spoil all that by having a baby?
Besides we had big financial responsibilities. We had only moved into our new house. We had a hefty mortgage to pay. We also had two new car payments to make. "We need to wait for a few more years," I pleaded.
We went back and forth like that on the way to a party at George and Susan’s place. George and Susan are good friends of ours. We’re all part of a small Bible study group from our church. We get together nearly every week to study and share. This was our annual Christmas get-together.
In addition to the six regular couples, that night we had invited Jose and Maria, a young homeless couple our church has taken in. They’re from Columbia. Jose is a carpenter, but he had lost his job. Maria cleans houses. A month before she had given birth to their first child, a little boy they named Santiago.
George had picked them up for the party. They brought baby Santiago along, because they couldn’t afford a baby sitter. Maria had just nursed him so when they got there he was sound asleep. Susan told her to put her baby down on their bed in their master bedroom and turn out the lights. She left the door open and was sure they could hear if he cried.
Shortly after that the rest of us began to arrive, all at the same time. It was a very cold night. A “blue norther” had dropped the temperature down to around the twenty degree mark so we were all wearing our winter coats. Since we’d been to George and Susan’s house many times, when we came in we just threw our coats on their bed without bothering to turn on the lights. No one mentioned the baby was also there.
We each put our pot-luck dishes in the kitchen and got to hugging and laughing, talking and visiting. We were especially interested in Jose and Maria. Bill said he knew a contractor who was interested in giving Jose a job. Jose was excited.
To put us in the mood, Susan led us in some Christmas carols and then said it was time to eat. Maria said she wanted to see how Santiago was doing before we ate. If he was awake she wanted to show him off. She went back to the bedroom, turned on the lights and immediately began screaming. I'll never forget the sound of her cries. I still hear them now two years later. “Oh Dios! Oh Dios! Mi niňo! Mi niňo!”
We all ran back to crowd into the room. She was sitting on the bed holding her baby. Tears were streaming down her face. He was all blue. He wasn’t breathing. We suffocated him.
Susan is a nurse. She tried to give Santiago artificial respiration, but it was no good. We drove Jose, Maria and Santiago to the ER, but it was all too late. Nothing could be done.
That was a very difficult Christmas for us. We were heartbroken. Susan was especially distraught because she had not warned us the baby was on her bed. It took many months for all of us to get past our guilt about baby Santiago. Our pastor worked with us. Jose and Maria took it especially hard. After about a year they were finally able to meet with all of us to tell us they knew it was an accident. No one was at fault. Baby Santiago was with Jesus. We must leave what happened in the hands of God.
That incident really got Arlene and me talking again about children and family and work and where our lives were going. We realized that all the talk about making money and having a big house was nowhere as important as we had made it out to be.
That’s when we decided to go ahead with having a baby. And that’s how we came to have little Megan. She’s such a precious gift from God and we're so humbled by her.
By the way, Jose did get that job. And just last week he and Maria told us they’re pregnant again.
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*Parable: a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle. This story is based upon a reported newspaper account.
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By Dr. Al Franzmeier, Editor