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[pmcd9]

Just to reiterate, these emails come from my 70 something year old uncle.

The smell of rain

At the end of this story, it gives you two options.. I think you will figure out what option I chose.

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery.  Her husband, David , held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.  That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Caesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.

At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.  Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.  'I don't think she's going to make it,' he said, as kindly as he could.  'There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one'

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived. She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.

'No! No!' was all Diana could say.  She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four.  Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away.

But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana 's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.  All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl. 

There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger.  But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.  At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.  And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.

Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life.  She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving , Texas , Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing.  As always, Dana was chattering non-stop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby, when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, 'Do you smell that?'  Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, 'Yes, it smells like rain.'  Dana closed her eyes and again asked, 'Do you smell that?'  Once again, her mother replied, 'Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain.'

Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,
'No, it smells like Him.  It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.'  Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.

Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.  During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

You now have 1 of 2 choices. You can either pass this on and let other people catch the chills like you did or you can delete this and act like it didn't touch your heart like it did mine.

IT'S YOUR CALL!

'I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.'

This morning when the Lord opened a window to Heaven, He saw me, and He asked: 'My child, what is your greatest wish for today?' I responded:  'Lord please, take care of the person who is reading this message, their family and their special friends. They deserve it and I love them very much' The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginning, but not its end..

________________________

This message works on the day you receive it. Let us see if it is true.
ANGELS EXIST but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call them FRIENDS.
________________________

Pass this on to your true friends. Something good will happen to you at 11:00 in the morning; something that you have been waiting to hear.

This is not a joke; someone will call you by phone or will speak to you about something that you were waiting to hear.

Do not break this prayer; send it to a minimum of 5 people

[jay-ell]

Ash, I remember December 2004 -- I was expecting Pearce at the time, and hearing your story back then just broke my heart. I didn't know your second go-round was so terrifying, though. Glad it worked out.

We had a minute or two with Pearce's birth where he wasn't looking so good (he came out bright purple but squalling) and while that experience can't teach me a single thing about what you went through it at least helps me imagine. And when I read a story like this, I kind of look at it and think, "It's nice that your kid made it, but you're not any more special than the people whose kids don't."

I mean, what's the point supposed to be? That if you give a million people million-to-one odds, eventually somebody's going to beat them?

[pmcd9]

I mean, what's the point supposed to be? That if you give a million people million-to-one odds, eventually somebody's going to beat them?

A million babies died while this kid was laying on God's chest for 2 months.

[Choop]

my brother didn't breathe his first three minutes out of the womb. born at home on my parents' bed to a midwife's hands, somehow that kid basically defied nature.

(he was born at home because i was born at a hospital on a day when the nurses were more interested in watching something epic on a soap opera)

but seriously, david/diana/dana/dustin? and their last name is blessing. come on.

[jay-ell]

I went to middle school with a kid named David Blessing -- he grew up to be a pastor. So that part, at least, is moderately believable.

[jaydub]

People do funny things with names.  There was a family whose boys attended my high school: Myron, Byron, Shyron and Dyron.  Another one named their kids Christopher, Christina, and Chrystal (only Chrystal goes by Chris). Closer to home, my kids are both Kappa Mu (Kaitlin Morgan and Cameron Matthew).  We won't even get into what happens with twins...

[jay-ell]

And some people have the audacity to name their kids after character traits they value. Charity, Faith, Hero...

[Nabubrush]

Family down the road from me when I was living in Juneau had kids named Brick, Tim Burr, and Skiff.

[Doc]

I'm going to say what I always think when I hear a story like this: Miracle, hell, a bunch of people worked their asses off around the clock to keep that kid alive but everyone goes and gives God all the credit because a simpler story gives people the warm and fuzzies.
I don't normally say that sort of thing out loud because its churlish, but I feel I'm in a safe place here.

Ash's story is a straight up miracle though. Any divine entity would surely want him raising as many kids as possible out of sheer curiousity at what would happen to them.

[Choop]

when i used to believe in god he was always more of a star trek villain of the week than a benevolent bestower of life and virtue

[Nabubrush]

And to cross-pollinate from the NFL thread:

My favorite player this year is Steve Johnson, as he's the only player I know of who has ever thrown down the (sort of) contrapositive to all the athletes who say jesus delivered the win for their teams.

[miles]

I can't find it anywhere on the internet, but one of my favorite Onion headlines is: Basketball Star Blames God for Defeat

[Nabubrush]

That's a good thing you are doing.

[Doc]

I can't find it anywhere on the internet, but one of my favorite Onion headlines is: Basketball Star Blames God for Defeat

Years and years ago now a popular tv comedian here won the national 'best tv person' type award and thanked Satan, lord of Darkness.

We have funded a program of the NICU team going on five years now, in conjunction with the Girl Scouts. They decorate and deliver custom blankets for the infants to help soften and personalize what is basically times of hell for the parents. It's the least we could do. Special, special people and it's a good thing to mention.

It is. And did God ever give people custom blankets? Hell no.

[Nabubrush]

It is. And did God ever give people custom blankets? Hell no.

We used to give the indians custom blankets; that didn't work out very well for them.