providence...

our first picture of Jameson smiling... in the ER, of all places

Sometimes I'm blown away how God works.

If you've followed this blog for awhile, you might remember all of Jameson's health issues as an infant.  Between silent reflux, ear infections, and breathing troubles, it felt like we were always in a doctor's office.  (we literally had to take him to the doctor the very first day we got him!  "This is our son," we couldn't believe our own ears as those words rolled off our lips to the doctor.)

You know, with all of these health issues, we only made the 4am pilgrimage to the ER twice, I think.  (where we captured our first picture of Jameson smiling!  How fitting!)

On one of these trips to the ER, he'd had a particularly high fever and the doctors felt it was best to admit Jameson to the hospital and keep a watch on him for 24 hours since he was so little.

It's a terrible thing to sit in a hospital room with a little one so helpless and so lifeless.  

After doing the all-nighter shift at the hospital while I stayed home with Caroline, Marc went home to quickly grab a shower and some rest.  I sat alone in the room next to the metal hospital crib, and Jameson's nurse would come in and perform checks on him every so often.  Her name was Pachi.  She was very warm and caring, she was from Brazil, and she and I instantly hit it off.

It was a slow day for the hospital, and so throughout her shift, Pachi and I shared amazing conversations about adoption, faith, singleness, etc.  Seeing Caroline at the hospital later that day, I could tell she was intrigued by our family, and she was SO great with both of my kids.

 When Pachi's shift was over that day, I never thought about seeing her again.  We didn't share any contact info.  

As far as I knew, Pachi played a role in our story.

Who knew we'd actually play a part in hers.

It turns out Pachi and her roommate, Rachelle, were looking to change churches in town.  After work the day we met, Pachi came home telling Rachelle general things about our family and the conversations we'd had.  (of course, no names mentioned, etc.)

"Well, where do they go to church?" Rachelle asked her.

"I don't know.  We never actually talked about that," Pachi answered, and it seemed that lead had hit a dead end.

A few weeks later, a friend of Rachelle's invited her to visit a small presbyterian church in town that meets in an elementary school cafeteria.  Pachi had to work that day, but Rachelle agreed to come check it out alone.

Jameson's baptism, January 2013

Wouldn't you know, it just so happened to be on the one DAY our family was STANDING UP FRONT for Jameson's baptism.

Now, Rachelle didn't know any names.  But let's face it... how many families do you see with a bald daughter and a black son??

Rachelle put two and two together and then ran home to tell Pachi she had found the church where our family attends!

Pachi and Jameson two years later

 And you can guess the rest of the story, right?

Two years later, Jameson's nurse has become a sweet friend.

 Pachi and Rachelle have joined our church, and Rachelle plays piano on our worship team.

It's so crazy to look back and remember our relationship began in a hospital room with a sick little baby.  (who's obviously not sick anymore!)

God's providence is simply AMAZING.