Page 104 - How We Lead Matters

Special Delivery

My sister’s oldest son and daughter-in-law, Geoff and Kelly Gage, were so
proud to announce that they would be the parents of fraternal twins. A few
years later, her middle son and his wife, Scott and Gina, announced that they
were having identical twin girls.
That seemed amazing enough until we got the call that their youngest
son and daughter-in-law, Rick and Britt, had just received the results of an
ultrasound that showed that they were having twin boys. In case you’ve lost
count—that’s a six-pack.
Ten years after the birth of Patrick and Emma, Geoff and Kelly told
them that they were preparing to adopt a baby from Russia. That decision had
been inspired by a family philanthropic trip to Russian orphanages and their
deep faith that another child awaited them. They were eager to receive news.
You guessed it. The natural mother gave birth to two babies. Geoff and
Kelly were asked to take both. We saw this as the absolute sign that these
children were meant to be in our family.
My daughter, Wendy, had two children with the help of modern
medicine. True, Martin and Sadie aren’t twins, but they are twin miracles
nonetheless.
I sometimes reflect on my own “birthing method”—one at a time, con-
ceived the old-fashioned way. And I am grateful beyond words for the many
ways we are now able to fulfill the dreams of families who yearn for children
and the dreams of children who yearn for families.

Marilyn Carlson Nelson 87