Smell of Rain

[Guest guest]

> The Smell of Rain

> >

"judi" <judi

> > A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as

the

Doctor

> > walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still

groggy

from

> > surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced

themselves for

the

> >

> > latest news.

> >

> > That afternoon of March 10, 1991,complications had forced Diana,

only

> > 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean to deliver

the

> > couple's

> > new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing

only

one

> > pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously

premature.

> > Still,

> > the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.

> >

> > "I don't think she's going to make it,' he said, as kindly as he

could.

 

> > There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the

night, and

even

> >

> > then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could

be a

very

> > cruel one."

> >

> > Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor

described

the

> > devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived.She

would

> > never

> > walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she

would

> > certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from

cerebral palsy

to

> >

> > complete mental retardation, and on and on. "No! No!" was all

Diana

could

> >

> > say. She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long

dreamed

of

> > the

> > day they would have a daughter to become a family of four. Now,

within

a

> > matter of hours, that dream was slipping away. Through the dark

hours

of

> > morning as Danae held onto life by the thinnest thread, Diana

slipped

in

> > and

> > out of sleep, growing more and more determined that their tiny

daughter

> > would

> > live-and live to be a healthy, happy young girl. But David,

fully awake

> > and

> > listening to additional dire details of their daughter's chances

of

ever

> > leaving the hospital alive, much less healthy, knew he must

confront

his

> > wife

> > with the inevitable.

> >

> > David walked in and said that we needed to talk about making

funeral

> > arrangements. Diana remembers 'I felt so bad for him because he

was

> > doing everything, trying to include me in what was going on, but

I just

> > wouldn't listen, I couldn't listen.' I said, "No, that is not

going to

> > happen,no way! I don't care what the doctors say; Danae is not

going to

> > die!

> > One day she will be just fine, and she will be coming home with

us!"

> >

> > As if willed to live by Diana's determination, Danae clung to

life hour

> > after

> > hour, with the help of every medical machine and marvel her

miniature

body

> >

> > could endure. But as those first days passed, a new agony set in

for

David

> >

> > and Diana. Because Danae's under-developed nervous system was

essentially

> > 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her

discomfort, so

> > they

> > couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests

to offer

> > the

> > strength of their love.

> >

> > All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the

ultraviolet

light

> > in

> > the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay

close to

> > their

> > precious little girl. There was never a moment when Danae

suddenly grew

> > stronger. But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce

of

weight

> >

> > here and an ounce of strength there. At last, when Danae turned

two

months

> >

> > old, her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the

very first

> > time.

> > And two months later the doctors continued to gently but grimly

warn

> > that

> > her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal

life,

were

> > next

> > to zero.

> >

> > Danae went home from the hospital, just as her mother had

predicted.

> > Today,

> > five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with

glittering

> > gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no

signs, what

so

> > ever, of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she is

everything a

> > little girl can be and more-but that happy ending is far from

the end

of

> > her

> > story.

> >

> > One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in

Irving,

> > Texas, Danae was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of

a

local

> > ballpark where her brother Dustin's baseball team was

practicing. As

> > always,

> > Danae was chattering non-stop with her mother and several other

adults

> > sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms

across

her

> > chest, Danae asked, "Do you smell that?"

> >

> > Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm,

Diana

> > replied,

> > "Yes, it smells like rain."

> >

> > Danae closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"

> >

> > Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get

wet,

it

> > smells like rain.

> >

> > Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin

> > shoulders

> > with her small hands and loudly announced, "No, it smells like

Him. It

> > smells like God when you lay your head on his chest." Tears

blurred

> > Diana's

> > eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other

children.

> > Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana

and

all

> > the

> > members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in

their

> > hearts>

> > all along. During those long days and nights of her first two

months of

> > her

> > life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her,

God

was

> > holding Danae on His chest and it is His loving scent that she

remembered

> > so

> > well.

> >

> > You now have 1 of 2 choices...you can either pass this on and

let other

> > people catch the chills like you did, or you can delete this and

act

like

> > it

> > didn't touch your heart like it did mine.

> >

> > IT'S YOUR CALL!