Changes...

Since our last update we have received dozens of e-mails. Your encouragements range all the way from “Welcome to complete insanity” (Thanks a lot K.!) to very personal testimonies of how an unexpected child ended up being an incredible blessing.

At the same time the Holy Spirit was touching our hearts through our devotions and –no doubt - in answer to your prayers. He showed us how cold and hard our hearts could be. Hard to the point of not loving our own flesh and blood! We had to humble ourselves before God and ask for forgiveness. It was a huge step towards accepting the new baby.

Then last Thursday Cecile flew to Bangkok for her first ultrasound. The news was not good. The doctor didn’t see any cardiac activity. He figured that either the baby was “younger” than we thought and the heart hadn’t developed yet or that the baby was not viable. He asked Cecile to come back 3 days later to run additional tests. Because she is still breastfeeding Emma 3 to 4 times a day and has to stay a couple of days in Thailand we decided to go as a family.

We arrived Saturday evening and Cecile saw the doctor today. He confirmed that embryo was dead and proceeded to remove it under general anaesthesia. The surgery went well and Cecile came home again this afternoon.

Why did we have to go through this experience? What did we learn from it? Well, following our last update a friend reminded us of the story of David and Bathsheba and how “inconvenient” her pregnancy was. David didn’t want that baby and tried to make the problem go away by pinning it on Uriah. When that failed and God showed him how hard his heart was David repented. Not only did he accept the baby but loved it so much that he fasted and pleaded with God to spare it.

God changed our hearts in a similar way and we want to thank you for the part you played in it, for your e-mails, your encouragements, your prayers and your love.