My angels in Spain: for the Winter holidays, Dad took them to ski in the Sierra Nevadas, Spain.
Alexander, our teenage grandson, left us on short notice...a student position unexpectedly opened up at a school in Madrid. We miss him but are happy for him, as he really missed his little brother and sister, who are also in Madrid. You see, his two little siblings were answered prayers.
When Alexander was about seven, he really wanted a little brother. He was a lonely little Jewish boy at a Catholic school in Paris...and he was a skeptic. Sister Maria, concerned about his skepticism, asked him one day if there were anything that he really longed for. Without giving it a thought, he answered that he would give anything for a baby brother. Sister suggested an experiment...they would go to the chapel and pray for a baby brother. Alexander reluctantly agreed.
Months later, as he was putting away his coat, a file fell off a shelf in the closet. There on the floor was an ultrasound film of a baby that was very clearly a boy. "Mama, Mama, Sister Maria was right...prayer works! We are going to have a baby!
Cecilia took a bit more prayer. My daughter had been told, based on testing, that she was past her child bearing years. Then she started having symptoms of ovarian cancer. She quickly went to her gynecologist to tell him her fears. After an extensive exam, Misha was ushered into the doctor's office by a solemn looking nurse who helped her into a chair and patted her shoulder tenderly. "O. K., how long do I have to live? I have two boys, who will be without a mother, so I have to make plans."
The physician answered, "I have no idea when you will die, but what I do know is that you do not have cancer...instead, you are six months pregnant. It is a baby girl."
Alexander was not surprised.
