Friday, February 08, 2008

The Greatness of Mimi



Sometimes folks who are serving are so caught up in their service that they are oblivious to the miracles they are dispensing. Over the past two weeks, I've been observing Carole (Mimi) become a modern-day Dorcas, Ruth, Naomi, Miriam, and Florence Nightingale rolled into one.


We opened up the house to daughter Brooke and 1-month old Audrey because husband/father Michael was sent to Little Rock on business for two weeks. Naturally, we were thrilled, particularly since for a while, Brooke thought she and the baby might accompany Michael and stay with him in some hotel. But then late in week #1, Brooke developed abdominal pain that sent her to the ER. The initial diagnosis by the doctors was appendicitis, but a CT-scan and a sonogram revealed the problem to be an ovarian cyst. Michael caught the next flight to DFW and showed up about the time Brooke was sent home from the hospital.

To make a long story short, my wife has been spectacular. She managed to continue the normal challenges of keeping one-year old Macie and 3-year old Maddie during the Monday-Friday time frame while keeping me, Michael, Brooke, and Audrey cared for. She dispensed her maternal wisdom to Brooke when needed. She cooked and cleaned. She was pure magic with Audrey, who is suffering with colic. Sometimes, I would be taking my turn with the baby who would be screaming like Tarzan missing a vine. Carole would step up and ease Audrey out of my trembling hands and miraculously the little angel would sense the difference and quickly stop the crying. She was doing the work of 3 people at once.

Another thing I noticed while all this was transpiring was that Brooke is a natural when it comes to mothering. Some mommas of newborns seem awkward at the job and impatient with their new angels. Brooke has adapted to motherhood with ease and grace, displaying mothering characteristics usually reserved for veteran mommies. Little Audrey doesn't know it yet, but she is the benefactor of having masterful women in her life. What a massive blessing this is! And how heart-breaking is it that so many babies are born into a world just the opposite of this.

So hats off to Carole/Mimi and Brooke/Mommy. (Oh, yeah. Michael's a great hubby and daddy, but he's just a guy. Like me.)

3 comments:

Tim Perkins said...

God is so good. You may know that Carole's hobby is collecting dolls - newborn, silicon dolls to be exact. One of the greats in this esoteric world is Michelle Fagan, a wonderful, godly lady who is the ultimate silicon doll maker. Turns out she sponsored a Valentine's contest...giving away one of her unique creations to some lucky (blessed) individual who entered. Several hundred did enter. And about the time I was typing out the blog entry extolling my wife, Michelle announced that Carole was the randomly-chosen winner! She'll be receiving the "Fagan" shortly. The value of this doll is...uh, higher than you would probably guess. Suddenly all the fatigue that Carole has built up is gone. She is floating around the house with a big smile. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that God had a hand in this. And I'm a big fan of His.

Lynn Leaming said...

You sell yourself WAY to short!! Audrey is also blessed to have a great Grandaddy and Brooke to have a Godly father!

Tell Carol we say Congratulations! God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him!

Brooke said...

Thanks for your sweet words and also thanks for the care that we received last week.