Thankful Thursday – From Our Hotel – Graham

Linny Saunders25 Comments
It’s Thankful Thursday again and we have so very much to be thankful for…. First, yesterday, February 11th, was our Graham’s 14th birthday. It was an exceptionally sweet day for Graham.

We were pastoring in Charlotte, NC back in 1995, having just moved there not long after finding out I was pregnant. When I was about six (6) months pregnant the doc found that I was dialated to 4 cm and having multiple contractions a day. Not good. He told me he was going to hospitalize me. Having four little ones at home, and Emma just having turned a year old, I begged him to allow me to be at home, and promised that I would abide by every rule he set. He hesitantly agreed.
After 10 weeks of complete bedrest I was finally allowed up. The doc figured I would have the baby that day. Well my miracle-working, mountain-moving, awe-inspiring, gasp-giving God had been listening to my pleas…..having just moved into our home 10 days before the complete bedrest order I had asked the Lord if He would please keep the baby from coming so I could nest a bit. The first day up from the bedrest I went straight to the fabric store. I had been dreaming for 10 weeks of what I would do to nest and so I was ready to ‘get it done’ before the baby came. I sewed like crazy. Miraculously two full weeks passed and no baby – which the doctor was in total shock. I mean, come on, 10 weeks of stricht bedrest, dialated to 4 cm and now up and no baby?? Who hears of such a thing!?
Against all the medical odds the Lord allowed me to sew and nest and wallpaper for the next two weeks. On February 10th, after two weeks of non-stop nesting…I prayed to the Lord and said, “Thank you. I’m done nesting. I’m ready for the baby to come now.” The very next day I went into labor. How faithful God is!!
At 6:35pm on February 11th Graham Josiah entered the world, weighing 7lbs. 15 oz. He was so precious. Emma and Abby both had heart shaped faces and brown hair. Here was a fair skinned, blonde haired baby boy with a very square face. I was smitten!!
Now, 14 years later, Graham has grown into a tender-hearted, often very serious young man who wants to honor the Lord with his life. He is passionate about music and plays both the drums and guitar. He has a huge heart for the orphans and has worked in several orphanages in the last few years. He is saving to head to Africa again with Dad in late May.
Graham has had some difficult birthdays in the last few years. All unfortunate things that none of us had control over but left him wondering if he should just skip birthdays all together. Of course this one being in a hotel, having had our home destroyed by fire was not looking too perfect either….so we prayed and prayed that this one would be special, inspite of it all.
Little did Graham know, but he and Emma’s best buds (Anna and Josh and Steven) had flown in to surprise him. These three are just three of Ryan’s (our son-in-love) siblings. Anna and Josh skype with Graham and Emma almost every night. So tonight, when Graham and Emma came in from youth group imagine their complete shock to find Anna, Josh and Steven(with bows on their heads). Emma and Graham were elated!!
This morning when I told Dw that the three were coming, even Dw got teary-eyed. He said, “We could use some cheer Linny, I’m sooooo glad they are coming.” We love the Quiz family and their kids are just some of the sweetest in the land. They will be helping the kids inventory their things at the house and having lots of healing fun along the way. What a wonderful birthday surprise!! Josh (17), Anna (14) and Steven (15)

Faithful Friends Forever…

And so this Thankful Thursday we honor our precious son – Graham – how thankful we are for his life!!

25 thoughts on “Thankful Thursday – From Our Hotel – Graham”

  1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRAHAM!!! May this new year of yours be FULL of sweet surprises like the one you had today!

    With Love and Prayers,
    Amy and the Chapman Gang

    Reply

  2. happy Happy day Graham!!!! He and our little Grace share a birthday!! What a wonderful surprise for all of your friends to fly out! What good friends.. they are keepers!! Hope you had a blast and a day full of smiles and lots of laughs!

    Blessings!
    🙂
    Amie

    Reply

  6. Happy Birthday, Graham! I’ll never forget the first time I met Graham. I think he was three or four at the time; it’s when y’all were living in Amelia, and we came for Thanksgiving. As we gathered in your house around the kitchen table, I was sitting next to Graham, and as any preschooler would, he was talking my ear off. Because I wasn’t looking directly at him, he wasn’t sure that he had my full attention. So he reached up with his sweet little hand, gently grabbed my chin and turned my face to look at him, and then continued with his story. So sweet!

    Reply

  18. Aw, what a wonderful surprise! Family and friends are the best gift anyway! Happy Birthday, Graham. May God bless you through your life. Any teenage boy with a heart for orphans is pretty special in my book. (and God’s too.) Hope you have a terrific time with your friends!

    Reply

  23. Happy birthday Graham! What a beautiful story of a wonderful surprise. So happy his special day was made even more special.
    Please keep us updated on any prayer requests you have, our family continues to pray for you daily.

    Reply

  24. I found your blog right after the fire and a request for prayer. I read daily – yet do not usually leave a comment. I wanted to say Happy Birthday to your son – I also wanted to let you know your posts are SO touching and I just love to read them. We will be praying. Thank you for sharing your heart here and allowing God to use you SO hugely! Sunshine

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>