Chapter 1A: Brittany I—How Many Blessings for Mommy?
1A Brittany I—How Many Blessings for Mommy?
From the age of seven, Brittany embraced her childhood dream to strive for the most cherished career destination of all: being a mom!
As a mini-mommy, she dedicated hours to dressing up her baby dolls for school, preparing their make-believe meals, and teaching them right from wrong.
“Don’t cry, Emily… let Mommy kiss your hurt. Andy didn’t mean to push you—did you, Andy.”
When her sister Kelley came along—three years younger—they played Barbies and babies together. Sister Ally was eight years younger, so when Ally was old enough, Brittany was in her teens playing dolls with her.
Finally, when young Matthew arrived, twelve years between them, people said Brittany was like a real-life “little mom” to him. A natural caregiver, always offering a shoulder to lean on.
In fact, her mom and dad both worked, so the children often stayed with their grandparents. “But while we were there,” admits Brittany, “I always looked after my siblings.”
When Brittany went off to college, she selected a field of study closest to preparing her for motherhood: a teaching and coaching education. It didn’t hurt that by that time she excelled at basketball.
Through her twenties, Brittany’s dream to be a mother never left her mind, notwithstanding the prerequisite—marriage.
After graduation, she began teaching seventh-grade math and coaching girls’ basketball at Central Cambria High School in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh.
One of Brittany’s players was the sister of a handsome young athlete and schoolteacher, Josh Bracken, who occasionally—actually, more and more occasionally—came by to watch his sister Jackie play. From Josh’s point of view, there was definitely something alluring about his sister’s funny, happy-go-lucky, and really pretty basketball coach, Brittany. Moreover, they had something in common—Josh was a coach himself. Baseball.
Brittany and Josh’s relationship began to develop when they hung out together, becoming very good friends—that is, until a kiss seemed to stop the world and put everything onto a more serious path. They dated and got to know each other for three years before Josh started planning how he would propose.
Josh and his guy friends had a hunting camp located in the woodlands of northern Pennsylvania, a few hours from home. He knew that in late spring the state flower, pink-and-white mountain laurel, would bloom all along the forest trails, creating a magical environment. That’s where he asked Brittany to marry him. It was sweet and romantic. A year later they stood by each other’s side and became husband and wife. Brittany was thirty-three and ready to fulfill her life’s quest—to be a mom! Within weeks she was expecting!
Then, at around seven weeks’ pregnant, the worst of news: Brittany miscarried.
The sense of loss seemed unbearable. “I was devastated and heartbroken,” she said.
As soon as possible, the young couple tried again. And again.
Brittany fretted to her mother, Stephanie, “Everyone around me is having successful pregnancies. Yet month after month, I’m still not pregnant!”
She prayed and prayed. Nothing happened.
Still grieving the loss of her first child, she began to question why God was not responding. She became disheartened.
“That’s when I picked up a book,
Godwink Stories: A Devotional. I found hope in the Godwink stories of others. I felt encouraged. If good things could happen to those people, they could happen to me too. I began praying for a Godwink to assure me that we were going to have a baby.”
But when a positive pregnancy test continued to elude her, Brittany lamented to her mother that “God doesn’t answer me.”
Stephanie, a surgical nurse, had always taught her children the power of prayer. Moreover, better than anyone, she knew that God had placed a deep desire for motherhood into Brittany’s heart at a very early age.
Feeling helpless, Stephanie followed her own counsel, increasing her own prayers for her sweet daughter. “Please, God, let Brittany experience the joy of pregnancy.”
A few days later, Stephanie was traveling to California to help Matthew, her youngest, pack up things in his dorm, getting them in storage for summer break at Pepperdine University.
Well experienced at this task, with several kids, Stephanie had a routine. Take all of the linens and Matt’s clothing to a laundromat, then box and label them so they’ll be fresh in the fall.
An older gentleman came into the laundromat. He had a kindly look about him. He smiled at Stephanie, commented on her cross necklace, and asked if she had grandchildren.
Stephanie struck up a conversation with the gentleman, sharing that only one of her four children was married. She added that Brittany and her husband had experienced the tragedy of miscarriage and were frustrated that they’d been unable to succeed since.
The man looked at Stephanie, his eyes twinkling as he spoke.
“You tell her to be kind… to pray… have faith… and she will be blessed double!”
He held her gaze. “Do you know what I mean?”
Stephanie answered tentatively, “Twins?”
He nodded. “Tell her that Herb said she’ll be twice blessed!”
Stephanie couldn wait to phone Brittany. Was this the Godwink she was praying for?
Brittany took her mother’s encounter with the man named Herb as a sign.
“I kept trying, kept the faith,” said Brittany, “and six months later I finally got my positive pregnancy test!”
Brittany and Josh scheduled an early ultrasound because of her prior loss.
The weekend before their appointment, Josh was up at his hunting camp and encountered a man who ran the Moose Club. He talked about his granddaughter and was selling raffle tickets to her event. Josh bought one, subsequently discovering that the man’s name, ironically, was Herb.
On their way to the ultrasound a couple of days later, Brittany wondered,
Is there any heavenly connection between the two Herbs? They felt an inner excitement as the ultrasound tech performed the procedures… and a spike of curiosity when the tech smiled, turned the screen to them, and said, “What do you see?”
As clear as day, the ultrasound photography showed two sacs! And underneath, typed on the screen, was: “Baby A… Baby B… Twins!”
“I felt exuberance! A peace came over me that I knew was God’s presence,” said Brittany. “I got my Godwinks!”
Postscript
Three months before this book was published, Brittany and Josh learned the genders of the babies—twin boys!
However, because the twins will be born a month after publication, photos can be seen at
www.godwinks.com for one year.
Reflections
Brittany’s desire for motherhood was spirited and resolute.
Yet every month that she failed to conceive, she felt a little more disheartened, questioning if there was something wrong with her or wondering if God simply had not heard her pleas.
Hannah and Sarah from the Bible experienced similar frustration. But in the end, God answered each of their prayers as well as Brittany’s.
The kind words of the stranger named Herb—spoken with absolute authority—ignited a beacon of hope within Brittany, to stay the course, to keep on praying and to keep the faith.
She did. And the ultrasound confirmed exactly what Herb had said: She would have double blessing! Twins.
During times when we don’t see God working, we need to be persistent in our prayers but patient in our faith. He does some of His best work in the waiting.
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.
—ROMANS 12:12 (NKJV)
