As our infertility struggle continued, I began to pray specifically to God, “Please, bless our family with a baby.” I said this prayer over and over daily—before every meal, before falling asleep, and at random moments during the day when it popped into my mind. “Please, bless our family with a baby.”
An Answered Prayer
Being the loving God that He is, He answered my prayer. And my sister-in-love got pregnant with our second niece.
Seriously, God?! Are you joking me?!
Now, I’m quite certain God knew exactly what I meant. He knew that I wanted to get pregnant, that my heart longed for my husband and I to have a baby of our own. But he also knew what I was far from accepting—that I could not carry a child within my womb. So, He answered my prayer by blessing our family with our second niece.
Now, I say that God answered my prayer because our middle niece is so much like my husband and me that there is no other explanation than to say, she is our gift from God. While it makes sense for her to be like my husband since they are related by blood, there is no reason for this kid to take after me—her aunt by marriage. But she does.
Our Love for Hello Kitty
There are simple things that connect us like her love for Hello Kitty. Now, I tried to instill a love for Hello Kitty in all three of my nieces, but our middle niece is the only one who still adores her to do this day. When her older sister told her that she couldn’t ride her Hello Kitty bike to middle school because it was too babyish, their Dad said he was going to tell Tia. Our oldest said, “Well, Tia is pretty cool….” And our middle niece rode her Hello Kitty bike to school. ?
Now, you are probably thinking that a love for Hello Kitty doesn’t prove that our middle is an answered prayer. I did buy her Hello Kitty stuff from birth! Well, there are other qualities that cannot be so easily explained…
Headbands, Coconut, and School
My SIL and her husband were on a church trip, so my mother-in-love and I were watching the girls. We decided to take care of some laundry and I watched my nieces put their clothes away. I couldn’t understand why our middle niece was placing her pants on a stack that seemed too high already, causing the drawer to be difficult to close. So, I asked her. She explained, “This stack is for shorts, this one is for not-quite-pants, and this one is for pants.” Well, that made sense to this hyper-organized girl, so I didn’t ask her to change a thing.
The next morning, as the girls were getting ready for school, I was helping them do their hair. Our middle niece had to wear a headband because she doesn’t like her hair in her face. I agreed that it is annoying. To this day, my hair is in a ponytail or I use a bobby pin to keep it from falling in my face. As I continued to watch her, I looked over at my MIL. Smiling, she said, “I know. It’s weird.” Even she sees how alike my niece and I are.
There are other similarities as well. Like reaching into the fridge to quickly adjust a water bottle that Uncle Dane placed askew (perfectionist), her dislike of coconut (it ruins chocolate), her love of school and excellent spelling skills (she memorized her spelling list and was surprised when I mixed the words up when quizzing her), and what the world often calls “bossy,” but Tia calls “leadership skills” (because I was called “bossy,” too).
Chosen for Me
I absolutely adore all my nieces. I just know that our middle niece was picked out special for me, so that God could answer my prayer. It is not how I expected Him to answer, but I wouldn’t change His answer for the world.
Click here to read more about My Aunt Life…
Featured Photo Credit: Zivile&Arunas on StockSnap.io
2 comments
I love this blog, a strange way for God to answer prayer but was perfect indeed.. Although at the time I am sure you did not feel that way. So thankful he has let you be a Mom in other ways!!!
You are correct that I didn’t feel so grateful at the time. It has taken me years to come to accept my infertility and my “mom” role being realized in ways I didn’t expect. I’m glad God (and my family & friends) were patient with me!