Thursday, May 10, 2007

LONG AWAITED HOMECOMING!!!

Many of yall have been praying for one of my best friends from home, Melissa Harklau, and her husband Brandon. I can never thank you enough for keeping them in your thoughts & prayers and today is the day we have all been waiting for....

For those of you who don't know her story and now her testimony, I will try to give you just a brief background of what all has been going on this past year.


Melissa, as I did, struggled for several years to have a baby. We never believed that both of us would end up having issues conceiving. After my success with IVF, Melissa decided to head in that direction as well. As luck would have it, she ended up finding out she was pregnant the day they were going to start the IVF process. What a blessing! As God would have it, a few weeks later, she too found out she was having twins. We all could not believe it! Both Melissas having twins. How crazy is that?


After her midpoint check up, Melissa & Brandon discovered they were having twin girls. We were all so excited and their lives quickly starting becoming filled with pink!


After having to deliver the girls early due to some minor complications, the girls (Faith & Hope) had to be put into the NICU. To all our surprise, Faith went to be with her Lord nine days later. I will never forget what Melissa said to me at the funeral. As we were embracing and crying tears we had never known before, Melissa said, "You know, all we prayed for was that God give us one child. I guess he just decided to split them with us!" Wow...what strength! I have never seen strength like I have seen in Melissa and Brandon throughout all of this.


Here is a quick excerpt from her email that just amazed me in the midst of her pain...

God has blessed us so much during our lives, but never more than the present. Our sweet Faith is perfect in His presence, never to know the heartbreaks of this world, only the glory of God. For that we are so thankful. We are thankful that this is our burden to bear and not hers. And it is not ours to bear alone. God not only has wrapped us in His perfect comfort and given us the strength to stand each day, He has given us your love and support that has meant so very much to us, and He has given us our precious Hope.


As for little Miss Hope, she was hanging in there. After some problems with eating and digesting, a wonderful doctor at Children's found some blockage in her colon. He performed surgery, removing a section of her colon, and all has been uphill ever since.


So flash forward to this afternoon and Waynell (Melissa's mom) emailed us the email we have all been waiting for....HOPE WAS FINALLY HOME!!! What a blessed day and one we have all been praying for. Don't they all look so good & happy to be home? Hope is going to love her precious room!


Missa if you see this, I love you so much! You mean the world to me and I am so thankful for all of God's blessings in your life. Enjoy your sleepless nights you have so been longing for and know that Faith is never far away. We all have Hope!


Love you and Happy Mother's Day!!!

Missa Ann

3 comments:

Amy S. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amy S. said...

Wow, Melissa! What a beautiful e mail your friend sent you and what amazing strength. Thanks for sharing.

(that was my comment I deleted above)

Amanda's News said...

That is amazing. It takes a person with a lot of faith to be able to have that attitude about losing a child.

I liked the post before this one about all your favorite things. There were some new ones on there for me to try out. I did get a Bumbo seat with this second one. Everyone I know who has used them just love it.