Guest Author - Sandy Mullins

Five years ago a wonderful thing happened, I married into a great family. Not only did I get a second chance at love but I got a great father-in-law. There are gentle spirits on this earth with jobs to do and this kind soul did his. He and his wife adopted two babies approximately five years apart and raised them like they were their own. They supported, loved them and guided them through adulthood.

When I joined this family, Mom was already gone after fighting a battle with cancer. Dad had a few medical problems and was living on his own. Dad later moved into senior apartments with visiting nurses so he could keep his independence. Over the last five years his health degenerated and his heart was slowly giving out. Last week, Dad went to Hospice. We knew he was going down hill fast, and we prayed that we would make it before he left us and moved onto the Abba kingdom.

Sunday we made the drive to Des Moines and were finally able to be with Dad. It was evident that Dad was hanging on, and you could tell he could hear us. After a while, I told Tony that he needed to give Dad permission to go and he went out to the patio to think. Not surprising, his sister, who is a RN told him the same thing. As I quietly sat in the corner working on a cross-stitch, Tony came back in and sat at his dad’s side. I was so proud of Tony, he told Dad that he had things he needed to do, and it was ok to go and do them. Tony is a sweetheart, compassionate man who finds it hard to tell you, that you did anything wrong; for him to do this was the biggest step I think that he has ever done.

Now, for the door opening part of the story:
A good friend of ours has been in the hospital with a problem pregnancy. We all hoped that the baby’s progress would be good enough for delivery and we waited. We waited and waited, as weeks passed and an amnio was taken weekly to check her progress. Sunday afternoon, approximately at the time Dad was dying, our friend’s contractions increased and it was decided the baby just wasn’t going to wait any longer. At 11:53 P.M. Krisaley Allycen Kae was born. She needed to be in an incubator, for weeks so they thought since she was three weeks early. After one day she was off oxygen, her tubes were removed the next day, she’s keeping food down on her own.

So remember the old saying: “When one door closes, another opens.” We know that we always will now, this new little soul in our lives.

Dad, you will always with us.

Welcome to the world Krisaley Allycen Kae Johnson.

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