Sunday, November 2, 2008

Nanny 911

Last fall I became a nanny. Yeah, I know that's usually something you do in college as a part time job but these circumstances were different...

We have this amazing family at our church Steve & Christina and their 5 beautiful kids. Christina had various types of cancers that she battled for almost 7 years. She beat all sorts of odds. Her last 2 pregnancies the doctors told her that if she did not abort she would die, along with the babies. She couldn't do it and took the risk. Today Alex and Austin are healthy, smart, darling boys.

Anyway, after a tenacious fight, Christina died on Sept. 1, 2008. It was labor day weekend- she died on a Saturday and the next day her family showed up at church. I was the preschool/K teacher that day and Alex & Austin were in my class. As we made animals out of Play-doh, they shared how their mom stopped breathing and their dad was yelling her name as she was in his arms in their big bed. It was everything in me not to bust out crying in the middle of class. When I was 11, the same scenerio took place at my house. It was Labor Day weekend and my mom was in my dad's arms in their big bed as he was yelling her name because she stopped breathing. In the days following I found out Steve needed a nanny to help with the kids (ages 5, 6, 9, 10, 12) after school, so I stepped up to the plate. It was one of those moments in life where you know your past experiences are about to be used in ways you never dreamed.

I was thrust into a very intense season of life. My first several months there I would come home and my sweet husband Chris would patiently listen to me, help me process all that was going on with this family and pray lots and lots. So many questions, tears, sadness. I would talk to my friend Rayleen from Canada. She never met the family, but she would just cry and pray for them all the time. It's hard to believe it's been over a year now that Christina has been gone. (yeah, how weird is it that we have the same name??) I've learned so much from this family and their faith. More on that for future posts...

1 comment:

Robin said...

I don't even have words for this. I read it with my mouth wide open. Please keep us posted on this family.

And I LOVE that God connected you with them. It is almost too extraordinary to be true, ya know?