Hope Fabric

 It looks like a simple back-to-school skirt, but that skirt was a long time in the making.  It was approximately 10 years ago this month that Jeff and I took what would end up being our last attempt to have a biological child.  We had been trying for several years with various assistance, but this time we would try in-vitro.  

All the drugs and hormones coursing through my veins had me in nesting mode and while I had tried not to get my hopes up, I could not help myself when I saw the Dick & Jane fabric.  I still owned the book my Mom used in school and I learned to read with it, too. I decided it would become the fabric for our baby’s nursery.  I bought several yards of it as well as yards and yards of coordinating gingham. So much hope in all that yardage.  But there would be no baby. With many tears, I put all those dreams in a box.

When we learned we would be adopting, I looked at the fabric and decided it wasn’t right for the nursery. This baby needed her own nursery theme. So I tucked Dick & Jane away again thinking perhaps it could be used to make something to wear on her first day of Kindergarten.  

As Jillian grew and her personality grew, making her wear something proved to be a difficult task. Even after Grammie made it I was afraid the skirt would end up hanging in her closet unworn.  But there she was on the first day of Kindergarten wearing my hope fabric.  

It may be just a piece of clothing, but seeing her in that little skirt as we sent her into the big world brought it all full circle. SHE is exactly what I hoped and prayed for 10 years ago.  SHE is why I bought that fabric. SHE was always meant to be ours. God’s answer to our prayers wasn’t what we expected, but it was far better.  

Sometimes God reveals Himself in funny ways -- even in a yard of fabric.