Happy Christmas

We decided against any invasive tests like amniocentesis, but I’d heard about a
new blood test which could determine your risk factor. I rang the Down’s
Syndrome Association to find out more, but unfortunately they explained that if
you already had a child with Down’s Syndrome then your risk factor would come
out high anyway. I was so disappointed. I really needed some reassurance that
this pregnancy would be OK.
I remember going upstairs and kneeling by my bed and praying for help. Within a
couple of hours there was a knock at the door; it was my midwife. She said “I
know we haven’t got an appointment but I felt I should come and see you”. I
explained about the blood test and how disappointed I was. She said that a
doctor at one of the London hospitals was carrying out a new scan called a
Nuchal scan which could detect any of the possible markers that a Down’s
Syndrome baby may have. She referred us and I had the scan at five months; the
doctor was 98% certain that there were no problems and that we were having a
boy. An added bonus as we do tend to have girls in our family. To this day that
remains the most amazing answer to prayer.
Despite you and the girls (and later Tom) becoming very involved with Trinity, it
took quite some time for Lawrence to develop a faith in Jesus. Can you tell us a
bit about that process?
Lawrence did come along to a few services but he wasn’t comfortable and even
walked out of a holiday club service. He was quite happy for the rest of us to
come along, after all it gave him a peaceful Sunday morning. It’s hard when your
partner doesn’t come to church; you feel a little isolated and I missed coming to
any social events because I didn’t want to come on my own.
I continued to pray for him but as the years went on I began to think that it would
never happen. But after about 14 years Lawrence was very unsettled and started
searching - Buddhism, self-help the Power of You, more or less everything else
apart from Christianity. Thankfully he didn’t find what he was looking for and
somehow we began to have more God discussions.
I remember one day he read in the newspaper about a book that was in the New
York Times top ten. That book was ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren and
he ordered a copy for me. I found it a very powerful book and although Lawrence
didn’t want to read it himself he was happy for me to tell him about it. It was at
this time as well when ‘The Passion of Christ’ was on at the cinemas and we went
together to see it.