Thankful Thursday-The dress

Tags

dress, secret, thankful thursday, The Children's Place

Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!”
~ Psalm 100:3-4

8 years ago, it started.  My Egg #2 had recently turned 2 and the desire started for another baby….that GIRL baby.  But Mike said “wait”.  Gave no timeframe, just wait.  Any of you ladies know, THAT is not easy when you WANT another baby! 

But I waited.

In February the following year, I went on ladies retreat to the Shopper-Lovers DREAM place:  Branson and there in the Outlet store of The Children’s Place was the most GORGEOUS dress I had ever seen.  I wanted this dress SO badly!  I just HAD to have it…..who was with me in the store that would SEE me buy this dress and think I’ve completely lost my mind?  I’ll buy it in secret….and hide it…..no one will ever know….

I bought the dress and had to get the matching shoes as well, and then dutifully hid my guilty purchase from my roommates and all the other ladies on the retreat.  I mean, afterall, it would look INSANE for me to be buying a DRESS for a girl I do not even HAVE!  People would think I had LOST my mind! 

I come home and I hang this dress in what would be the nursery if I did have another baby, and that baby just so happened to be a girl.  And my sweet loving husband thought I had gone insane.  He actually said those very words to me more times than I can count. 

And that’s where it started, I started BUYING girl clothes.  I was obsessed!  Garage sales mostly, nothing else was new other than that perfect velvet dress.  But I had BOXES of girl clothes!

And as life is so FUN to do, our life transitioned through several moves in and out of our house, to the Children’s home, back home again….and after everything settled back down and we were back into our house, I took the dress back out again and hung it up dutifully back up into Mike’s office what would be the nursery.  Everytime I went into that room or passed that room for any reason, I would pray:  “Thank you Lord for giving me a sweet baby girl to fill this dress.”  Sometimes the prayer would be long and the tears would flow, but life was busy, so a lot of times, the prayer was just simple, “Thank you Lord for giving me a sweet baby girl to fill this dress.”

And then the last move out of our house into our NEW house, Mike decided he was just TIRED of carting around these boxes and boxes and BOXES of baby GIRL clothes and insisted I get rid of them.  I would LOVE to say I was the sweet, dutiful wife.  I’d LOVE to say that I didn’t bawl like a big baby too.  But I’d be lying.  I did give ALL those clothes away to someone who needed them and I DID cry like a big baby.  It was the death of a dream.  I also prayed over those boxes, “Lord, I’m sowing a seed of FAITH to have my baby girl.”  But oh YES, I kept that original red velvet dress.

And in the new house, what WOULD be the nursery was decorated with the beautiful red velvet dress hanging on the wall where everyone could see it when they passed by the room.  And every morning I’d pass it and thank God for the baby girl to fill that beautiful dress.  And every evening I would thank God for that baby girl to fill that beautiful dress.  Friends and family (except my Momma of course) teased me mercilessly over this dress, but I was undeterred, I prayed all the time over this Faith Dress.  I was the mother of 2 very handsome boys who prayed over a dress.

But obviously, you know the end of this story:  Egg #3, born 7 years after Egg #2 and 10 years after #1, was indeed a girl.  And she is gorgeous and PERFECT and everything girlie.

I could not be more thankful to a God that listened to the desperate cries from a crazy woman who wanted a daughter so badly!  I thank Him all the time for His faithfulness, and yes, I still cry in the baby girl aisles of stores.  They are THANKFUL, GRATEFUL tears of joy that I serve a God that has compassion on crazy women! 

And I still have that Faith Dress even though it’s long outgrown.  I will hang onto it as a symbol of God’s faithfulness to me.  And who knows, my next desire is another baby girl to wear it, but one adopted, maybe from China or even Mexico….who knows….

But if you see that dress hanging in my house, just start the praying after you stop the laughing.

What are YOU thankful for today?

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