My daughter Maria left for 18 days for an honors trip she was chosen for to the Grand Teton Science Club in Wyoming. As I reflected on how quickly she has grown up (she will be a junior this year), I thought it would be a good time to share with all of you the miracle of Maria. Some of you know this story, but it’s worth re-telling. My husband Don and I always wanted six children and were very excited when we learned I was pregnant with our fifth child. It was time for my routine ultrasound which was usually shortly after the three month mark. My regular OB doctor brought another doctor into his practice to help with the high volume of patients, so I had to switch back and forth between doctors. My ultrasound appointment ended up with this other doctor. He began the ultrasound and didn’t’ say a word. He continued for quite some time and then changed to another type of ultrasound instrument. He left the room and then returned to tell me that the pregnancy was no good and I was being scheduled for a D&C, which is a procedure to clean out the uterus. He told me to get dressed and go to the front desk and they would give me the information for the appointment at the hospital to have this done. Of course I was very upset. I cried as I got dressed, but pulled myself together and headed to the front desk. As I walked down the hallway I noticed my regular doctor coming towards me with a file in his hand that he was looking at. He was on his way to his office to get something for another patient. He looked up for just a second as we passed and said hello, and then continued looking through the folder in his hand. I was almost to the end of the hall when I heard him call my name. I turned around and he had walked back towards me to ask me if everything was OK. He had noticed in that brief second that I looked like I was upset. I told him what had happened and that I was scheduled for this procedure. He immediately walked up to the front desk and told the receptionist to cancel the appointment with the hospital and to schedule an appointment to see him instead. Well the rest is the miracle of Maria. She was born a very healthy, beautiful baby, with no complications or problems. She is an honors student and is one of the kindest, most loving people you will ever meet. So many things had to happen at just the right time to keep her from being aborted. I had to leave that room at exactly the right moment to pass my doctor in the hall. He had to have a reason to leave his patient and go to his office at the same time I was leaving. He had to look up from his file at just the right time to notice me. And then, as busy as he was, he had to care enough to stop, turn around, and then interrupt what he was doing to question and reverse the decision of another doctor. That is the goodness of God! Of course every baby is a miracle, but we consider it a double miracle that she is here with us today.