Today is our oldest son's 11th
birthday. I’m amazed at how that boy has grown. Right that is something that
almost every mother says. It’s because we know how true that statement really
is!!!
We know exactly how many times
their life was flashing before our eyes. We know exactly how many times those
scrapes and bruises healed so much faster than we imagined. We know how many
colds turned into an ugly flu or sinus infection.
It’s not just some common thing
to sum up motherhood, it’s an open ended statement that can be applied or interpreted
to mean many things. It can be almost always understood as some level of
astonishment. We are astonished. Our oldest son has faced so many challenges
and life threatening situations and illness that no mother wants her child to
face.
He’s had malaria more times that
his little brothers. He’s been closer to black mambas than I want to admit. He’s
been too close to open electricity in a construction site. He’s survived a
missionary birth in Mozambique.
I can still hear the words in my
memory. “Of course you can have your baby in Mozambique. Thousands of women do
that every day!” Heidi was so encouraging and loving. We could come back to
Mozambique and have our first baby on the mission field. She wasn’t worried, so
why should we be?
His birth didn’t go as planned
(not sure how many natural births do follow a birth plan) but nothing could
stop our first little guy from showing up right on his due date. I know that
his birth was a miracle. That is a story worth fourteen blogs. He was the first
Iris Ministries Missionary baby born in Mozambique. Are we proud of that? I don’t
think so. I’m thankful to God for protecting us. I’m thankful that sometimes
ignorance is bliss, and sometimes God send’s you to Africa with a couple midwifery
books, and send a lady missionary who thinks it will be an honor to learn about
midwifery and help out at the private clinic.
He was the first. Now that is a
loaded statement. It means so much. It means we as parents were brave, maybe a
little naïve, but definitely not afraid. It means that we were willing to do
something that no one in our tribe had ever done before. Was it seamless
without any problems or unknown territory? Um NO. It was brand new. We were
pioneers for growing families on the mission field. It works! Kids are alive
and growing. Our three boys are doing well in life. Guess what other Iris
Missionary families have grown their families on the mission field, and their
kids are growing just fine.
Our oldest son is a testament to
the faithfulness of God, and to miracles. He was so squishy and a little blue
that my husband was worried. We just prayed as he took a moment to draw his
first breath. Then there is was, a little tiny cry and a big newborn breath. We
look at him now and know that the goodness of God on his life is a rich American,
Brazilian and Mozambican inheritance. Our beautiful Mozambican friends told us
that Jonathan belongs to Mozambique. We can go back to our countries when we
need to, but he is African. He is Mozambican. We would all laugh when our
friend Aida said, that he is much lighter than most other Mozambican’s, like
cream in coffee! We would laugh. All of our friends know how much we love to
drink coffee with cream.
Happy birthday to our firstborn
son! We love you forever our little Mozambican, Brazilian, American!!!
Missionary Momma Mia
