By Dave Andrusko
Last week we wrote about one brave woman, Amanda Schulten, and her unborn twin daughters whom she has named Hope and Faith. Little did I know that Hope and Faith—connected at the torso, sharing a heart, a liver, and two lungs and kidneys—would be born that same day, although we did not learn about their birth until Amanda posted on her blog Friday (amanda-faithhopelove.blogspot.com).
Many of you who read the account wrote me back to congratulate Amanda for having the courage to resist the pressure of doctors who told her “termination was the best option” because “the babies won’t make it,” as Amanda told Chicago Sun Times reporter Julie Mullen. “I broke down,” Amanda said. “I wasn’t thinking about abortion, I was thinking, ‘Will they survive?’ Not ‘I want them to die.’ ”
Amanda has posted a couple of times since the babies were born by C-section. Under the headline, “God is Good,” she writes
“I sit with them all day waiting patiently to soon one day get to hold them in my arms. I cry tears of joy, that God made them so perfect. (at least in my eyes and anyone who has met them)…
“We celebrate each day at 9:24 their beautiful life they share together. The girls have lots of soft brown hair and the prettiest eyes. God is good and he knows what he is doing. I’m so honored to call them my children.”
Then, in a moment that is almost unbearably beautiful Amanda wrote about and quoted from a song by Mark Schultz, “What it Means to be Loved.” Her post will melt your heart. While the prediction for that child is roughly similar to Faith Rosemarie’s and Hope Lillian’s, the twins will not be accompanied to the high school prom.
But the tender loving care that Amanda is lavishing on her babies is lifted right from the song. When the parents are told that their child will not likely live a year, he asks his wife, what did she want to do?
“I wanna give her the world
I wanna hold her hand
I wanna be her mom for as long as I can
and I wanna live every moment until that day comes
I wanna show her what it means to be loved”
And that is exactly what Amanda is doing. In her Saturday post, Amanda writes of a day she will never forget:
“Every mother waits and dreams of holding their child for the first time. My turn has come and I held for the first time my little girls.”
That morning a priest has come in to baptize the girls in the presence of two beautiful godparents, her sister and brother in law. Later a CT scan shows that the girls’ heart “is more abnormal.” Amanda concludes her post:
“Doctors are learning day by day new things about the girls.
It’s a learning experience for me.
Knowing that God made every little detail of us.”
Please take the time to follow Hope and Faith and Amanda.
And you can read the story behind Mark Schultz’s song (and be linked to it).
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