My dad was a conservative Swede. Wanting to minimize risk, he decided to wait a while before marrying. When a firecracker of a young woman came into his life and proposed, he fell to cupid’s arrow and married her. He was 42, and his bride was 13 years his junior with the energy of a young kid. Even as an old lady, Mom’s incredible pace was a marvel. Dad would shake his head and say, “You should have seen her when she was young!”
When Dad grew older, he shared his thoughts on getting married in middle-age. One of his comments has always stuck with me: “Since I got such a late start, I never expected to live long enough to see my children graduate from high school.”
But God took care of that, and Dad saw his three kids graduate from high school, college, get married and bring 15 of 17 grandchildren to him. His greatest joy was studying each one and alerting their parents (us) to special character qualities he saw in them. He reminded us of the importance of new life and was a model of exercising patience with children.
“Before you judge them, look at it from their point of view,” he’d say. He relished his role as a grandpa.
Fifteen months ago, Nate and I had the spectacular joy of becoming 
grandparents, too. Skylar Grace came to our Linnea and Adam through remarkable circumstances. (See Linnea’s “bio” page on her blog: www.KissYourMiracle.com ) Five months later, Nicholas Carl arrived through Hans and Katy and is now a nine month old citizen of both the UK and the US.
Eight months after that, Linnea and Adam surprised us with the news that Skylar would have a baby brother in February! And now, during this stressful month of cancer discovery and daily sadness, God has surprised us again (and also Hans and Katy) with news of twins arriving in April! And the frosting on this family cake is that Linnea’s baby is due on her sister-in-law Katy’s birthday, and Katy’s babies are due on her sister-in-law Louisa’s birthday. God’s creativity and gift-giving leaves us speechless!
As Scripture says, the Lord does take away but he also gives. (Job 1:21) To think of three new babies arriving into our family during this time, a season of adversity and mourning, is nothing but God’s lavish outpouring of blessing.
“For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.” (Psalm 100:5)
“Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10b)
Amazing Love!
Your dad Carl was right: New life is indeed important. Congratulations on these three precious gifts coming in 2010 to join the cuties above!
I love the picture above!!! Miss you tons!!
This reminds me so much of what happened to my sister, Lisa, and her husband Ben almost six years ago. Ben’s dad passed away from lung cancer and Lisa & Ben’s firstborn, Abby, was born on the day of his funeral.
What a turbulent mix of emotions for everyone – and a perfect picture of God’s grace in difficult times.
Congratulations on your new blessings 🙂
What a nice surprise! So many blessings of joy !
Our God is truely an awesome God. What a gift. Praying with you for Nate and your little ones both here and to come. Love you
I never knew that about your dad – I just knew that he was a strong, quiet man, to whom one just naturally gave respect and a bit of (good) fear! He was so wise – and so was your mom. I look forward to the time we can spend lots and lots of time together.
The influence of grandparents can be a lasting one..with JOY.. when given the opportunity. So delighted you and Nate have the blessing of experiencing some of the ‘firsts’ with yours; such a treat in the midst of this time.
As the Lord shines light on your agonizing journey, the following
Scripture reference comes to my mind:
The LORD’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease,
For his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning:
Great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22,23 (NASB)
Our love and prayers to each of you.
Naomi Dobner
That reminds of Ephesians 3:20 – “To Him who is able to do abundantly MORE than all we can ask or think…” This is so true, especially when you take into account His eternal perspective!
We are continually in prayer for you Nate and your family.
What joy and anticipation in the midst of pain and sorrow! This is an amazing development in your family. Only God can put these kind of events together. “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.” (Romans 11:33). I love it!
Nate and Margaret and family…you are in my prayers and thoughts…I feel priviledged to share your journey reading your blog each day…God is faithful…
I wish I had known Grandpa J! Everything I hear about him makes him sound like such an amazing person! That’s so cool about the due dates! Crazy how God works. I always think about that Jack Johnson song that says, “New life makes losing life easier to understand.” How great is it that you are going to have THREE new lives!
At church this morning, we sang “Blessed Be Your Name” and Ad and I talked later about how God is always taking and always giving. Even in tragedy and grief, He is always giving something. I love Him so much.
I also just got through looking at your post for today. It’s really awesome to think how the three babies were so tiny and inside me and Katy last year at this time. Now look at them… Sky and Nick too! We’re very blessed.