The Cradle

This is kind of a funny story that is shared with our daughter Jessica and her brother John. We have a wonderful cradle in our family, that was beautifully and lovingly made by their dad years ago. It is made of strong wood and stained in a deep rich brown color. It rocks back and forth and made especially for one of our children. Over the years we have kept it safe in our garage, wondering if it would ever be used for our grandchildren. Jessica, our middle child, who is a "planner" always wanted this cradle on standby. For many years she lived in Tennessee and we lived in Florida. The plan was for whenever we moved to Tennessee, to have the cradle be the first piece of furniture on the moving van. Well that time finally came, May 2007 we were to make our move to the Nashville area. Jessica and Dave were planning their family and now was the time to get that cradle in position and ready to "go". It made it! safely, no nicks or cracks or broken pieces. While we were setting up this special cradle, we realized that all this time Jessica thought that it had been built for her. This was the reason why getting it to Tennessee was so special, to be used by her first child. The realization was that the cradle had been made for our son John who is now 28 years old. We had a good laugh and proceeded to get it in shape for our new grand-daughter who was to arrive that following May. The time finally came and our little Caroline Hope arrived happy and healthy. She enjoyed the cradle only for alittle while and we took some pictures with its big pink bow for our photo albums. But guess what? John and his wife Monica are now expecting a baby in December and he found out that this is his cradle and he wants it to be shipped BACK to Florida. I was just thinking how our lives are so unpredictable and we can feel like we are set back and forth and tossed about, but like this cradle was made, we were made with love and tender care by our Heavenly Father. We can stand the test of time. Love Mom