Milagro

In looking back at 2010 posts . . .and there was only one in that most magical year ... I can't believe I didn't write about the miracle that I experienced. Alex and I were on a church mission trip to Nicaragua. The first night we were there we were visiting the cathedral in Managua. We were all with a big group in a small chapel. Finally, everyone left but Alex, Jenny, and I. Alex was leaning against a wall where there was a small hole. He told me he heard something weird through the wall - like voices and maybe crying. I listened and could hear what sounded like a baby crying. I asked Jenny to listen and she heard it, too. We found a Nicaraguan woman in the chapel and told her what we heard. She listened and didn't hear anything. She tried to convince us we heard the wind or frogs that sound like a baby crying. We knew what we heard so we kept after her to listen again. When she did, she heard it, too. She lead us outside the side doors of the cathedral. It had just rained and was cooler. There on the landing of the steps leading up to the doors, we saw a tiny baby. Jenny ran and picked her up. She was wrapped only in a rag. She was no more than a day or two old with her umbilical cord stump still attached. Next to her was a plain muslin dress. Her fingers and toes were turning blue. She had a lot of dark hair. The lady with us quickly ran to get the nuns. They too were shocked at what we had found. They ran to get some blankets. We talked to them briefly but then had to leave to join our group. Jenny and I wanted to know what happened to the baby but Ann, one of the other leaders, convinced us that we should just let it be and live with the knowledge that we had helped the baby. Things, she said, just don't happen the same there as they do here. A couple of months later, I just couldn't stand not knowing any more. I sent a letter to the nuns and just addressed the envelope, "Cathedral, Managua, Nicaragua." In my mind, I called her Milagro which means Miracle in Spanish. A couple of weeks later I got an email from the nuns with 14 pictures of a beautiful, healthy baby girl who had been adopted by a couple who could not have children! And, what absolutely brought chills to me and made me cry . . .they named her "Milagro Teresa!"