April 27

God's timing.  How many times have you questioned it?  I've personally stopped counting.  (Please refer to the previous post ironically entitled "Patience".)  But if the journey to Jenny has taught us only one thing, it's this:  God's timing is everything.

To understand just how awesome his timing is, let's take a trip back in time to three different April 27ths.  Same day.  Different years.  

April 27, 2009 

A Monday.  The saddest and most surreal day of my life so far.  This is the day we stood by my father's bed at Temple University Hospital with our pastor and his acoustic guitar, a chorus of shaking voices softly singing "I'll Fly Away" and "When We All Get to Heaven" as Bill Gruber slipped from this world straight into the arms of Jesus.

Tara's Daddy...a month before he met Jesus

He died from "Acute Pulmonary Hypertension".  I'm still not even sure what that is, but I do know that toward the end of his life, he was hooked up to an oxygen tank to help raise his O levels, and the weekend before he died he was placed on the transplant list for a rare heart and lung combination.

In a way, I think this is what made Jenny stick out to us initially.  Her write up on Reece's Rainbow listed her diagnosis as "chronic respiratory failure due to respiratory distress in the night."

Breathing.  The most fundamental function of all life.  An act we literally take for granted every 3 seconds.  Breathing.  A struggle that both my father and Jenny have experienced.

April 27, 2012

A Friday evening in Frisco, Outer Banks, North Carolina.  Windy and unseasonably chilly for the OBX at the end of April.  We and about 35 of our closest friends and family gathered on a tiny, private sound-side beach as Justin and I became husband and wife.

The significance of the date wasn't lost on us.  We had asked my mom's permission and received her blessing to add a happy memory to the date 4/27.

Daddy at our wedding

Justin had never met my father...we didn't begin dating until about a year after he passed.  But I believe he and my father would have been best friends if their paths had ever crossed.  Almost daily, I am astounded at the similarities between the two most significant men in my life.  Even Justin's sneeze is identical to my father's!

That young couple on the Outer Banks beach had no idea of the adventure God had planned for them!

April 27, 2017

A Thursday.  It was shaping up to be a gorgeous spring day for NJ in April - temps in the 70s and full on sunshine. My phone began to ring as we slid into the diner booth. We had just dropped Viv at school and planned to spend the day together to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

I looked at my cell phone.  It was the Adoption Placing Agency.  I looked at Justin as I quickly grabbed the phone.  It was here.  The voice on the other end gave me the news we were waiting for. Tears began to fall.  I was still on the phone when the waitress came to take our orders.  I was crying and listening to our rep at the placing telling us that our application was approved!  The Adoption Center in Jenny's country had approved The Etters in America to be her family!  Now she just needed the international clearance, which we were sure she would get since her region already approved her for it!

Celebrating 5 years!

It took me a minute to remember what date it was.  And the significance of the date brought more tears to my eyes.

I texted my mom right away:  "I think Daddy would be proud."

"Yes," she replied.

Death.  Breathing.  Life.  April 27th is just a date on the calendar.  We've cried on April 27th for many different reasons.  Because of loss.  Because of sadness.  But also because of love and most recently because of life.   

Now Death where is your sting?  Our resurrected King has rendered you defeated!