Emmanuelle and ... the series begins

Blogging on the arrival of Emmanuelle Hillary Ng has been long overdue. The reason for my delay is that there have been many thoughts, incidences and challenges in these two short months. I could easily write a book on these collected thoughts alone.

I will begin by saying that God has both a sense of humour and a penache for perfect timing. Remember that lovely refrain from Ecclesiastes? There is a time for everything, a time for peace and time for war... The lesson is that God makes everything beautiful in its time. The arrival of Emmanuelle - or Emmie - just goes to demonstrate His lovely timing.

Emmie was 3 wks premature, due to intrauterine growth retardation, or in other words, her belly wasn't growing fast enough and so the obstetrician decided to induce labour 3wks early, whilst things were still within normal ranges. We found out this by "chance" on some timely growth scans. So, a shocked Danielle packed her bags, and rang me in haste on the Wednesday (2nd) at 4pm and told me: "I have got to have this baby tomorrow." I finished what I was doing (reviewing some patient), and quickly asked my boss for some leave. All things were done at just the right time, I got my leave, talked with other registrars, filled my roster and got pay done with admin, all from 4:30 to 5:00pm, not a second wasted.

Then, my mother and sister had accidentally planned to arrive on the morn of the Thursday (3rd), 3wks prior to the due date. Wow, what timing. Another two pairs of hands to help me purchase some last minute stuff as we made the Mater Delivery Suite our new abode for the day. There was so much delay in the Suite, that we got the "prostin" (the induction gel) only by late afternoon. The night went by, the contractions hadn't gained strength, so we got some broken sleep. Emmanuelle was not meant to arrive until the next day.

Now it was the Friday (4th). My father had also accidentally planned to arrive that morning; his intention was only to see my brother off, who was leaving for London/Chicago for a whole year's worth of studies on the Saturday (5th). Would Emmanuelle come at the right time? She did. Dad was only scheduled to come in later that afternoon, Jimmy was to leave early the next morning. All up there was a window of say... twelve hours, in which my whole family would be there to see Emmie for the first time, and for the last time in a year for my brother. According to plan, she arrived at 6:30pm that night, my family and Danielle's family could all gather, to enjoy this child's coming.

God must have been enjoying His precise work all this time. He knew He wanted Emmanuelle to come on the 4th July, Independence Day. Did He know that we had named Emmie after Hillary (the Clinton) as well? Of course He did. There is not even the falling of a hair from our heads that escapes His notice (Matthew 6 somewhere). For Him, to bring Emmanuelle Hillary Ng on Independence Day was no feat at all. We, creatures of mankind, can only witness and enjoy Him, the powerful Creator and Ruler, in His wonderful timing. He does the actual work and He moves all things by His will. He has wrought much greater events in human history, the birth and life of Christ for example, was one such event. Why does Jesus come 14 generations after Babylonian Exile (Matthew 1)? Why does He escape infanticide in Judea under Herod (Matthew 2)? Why does Jesus pick the Passover for His death (Matthew 26)? Why did the King of the Jews choose the height of the Roman Empire as the time to bring about His Kingdom? Why will the Christ delay in returning once again, not as Saviour but as Judge of the world? God does all these things with intention. His timing is simply superb in bringing about His purpose.

In this little way, He has taught me just how skilled He is in all events of history, whether big or small. So begins the series of amazing events around the coming of Emmanuelle.