Janie and Jerry are Awesome!

As many of you know by now, our daughter Susannah was born last month. Her one-month anniversary was Friday in fact. And our friends and family have poured upon us such generosity; we can’t help but be so thankful.

Janie and Jerry, my sister and brother-in-law in Minnesota, sent Susan and I a package of wonderful gifts including a carved and painted block for Susannah with a special scripture verse on the bottom that had been near and dear to our mom’s heart. The scripture verse is Psalm 103:1-2: “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
Well, if you know me, you know that I can’t hold back my tears very well, and so the tears flowed. I was so touched at not only the gifts but the love that Janie and Jerry poured out through the letter along with the gifts.

Here is their letter:

“Dear Ted and Susan,

Congratulations! I wanted to send you something really special on this incredible occasion, so I had this block made for Susannah to be able to look at when she gets older and for you to cherish in years to come. I put a Bible verse on the bottom of the block, Psalm 103:1-2, for a special reason. Ted, since our Mom can’t be here on earth to rejoice with you, in her honor, I included one of her favorite Bible passages. Sort of as a way of reminding you of how much she loved and loves you and your family.
Our mom died just six weeks before my first baby was born. I remember the pain of not having her there. But God never left us! And he has never left you. Look at the great things He has done! He is good.
We look forward to the day when we get to meet Susannah in person.
Love,
Jerry and Janie”
Our birth mother died of breast cancer in March of 1979. I was only eleven years old and I was still not quite aware of all that was going on around me, including Janie’s own pain. All of my brothers and sisters and dad and the whole city of Cadillac were in pain at the loss of such a wonderful woman of God.

So I wanted to lift up the two of them, Janie and Jerry, before the Lord and honor them. They are two of my very favorite people! I put together a triptych of three pictures of Susannah surrounded by the gifts and the letter they sent us.