4/12/10

Charitable Acts of Two Angels

My husband and I got married in Texas and lived there for the first eighteen months of our married life together. It wasn't long after we got married that I found myself pregnant with our first child and suffering through the worst morning sickness ever. I had morning sickness (why anyone would call it that when it was practically an all day and night type of sickness is beyond me) pretty much all nine months of my pregnancy.

So here I was, married to the love of my life but living so far from my family, in a strange place where everything is different from what I was used to. My husband was working two jobs so that we can save up money to go back to school so his days started off at six in the morning when he leaves for work and didn't come home til nine at night. I didn't know anyone except for my in-laws. I didn't know how to drive so pretty much anywhere I needed to go, my hub had to take me. So I just kept to our apartment.

My first Sunday in our new ward, a beautiful red-head introduced herself to me and not long after that, she started visiting me at my apartment. As it turned out, she was assigned my visiting teacher. That first visit to my place, I met my other visiting teacher. These two ladies ended up being two of the most charitable ladies I've ever known. They were not the regular kind of visiting teachers who just come to visit me once a month and then relayed the message and then I don't see them til the next month's visit.

They started taking turns to come visit me if not everyday, every other day. On those days that they didn't visit, they would call me to see how I was doing. Phone would ring and I'd pick it up and it's one of them calling...

"I'm heading out to the grocery store, I thought I'd come pick you up and bring you along in case there might be something you'd be needing from there." or

"I'm taking my kids to the pool, want to come along and keep me company?"

One of them home-schooled her kids so she would call around lunchtime.."I'm making my kids lunch so I thought I'd come pick you up to join us...how's tuna sandwich sound to you?"

The other lady would call and say.."I just got a feeling to call and see how you're doing. How about I come pick you up and you can hang out with me, keep me company while my kids are in school and we can visit?"

Little things like that, totally meant a great deal to me. I was alone during the day and they kept me company. And they might make it sometimes sounded like I was doing a favor when in reality they were the one helping me. They had gone beyond the call of duty by taking me under their wings and did some of the things that I couldn't have done by myself. And mostly, they have shown such great love and compassion by being wonderful friends who would go out of their way to make a stranger feel welcome.

A few weeks before my baby was born, they called me up to let me know they wanted to throw me a baby shower but they wanted me to pick the date I wanted. Where I come from, we celebrated the 10Th day of a baby's life...something about when a baby is ten days old, he/she is kinda out of harm's way (I'm not even sure if that's true or not). So these two wonderful women went out and invited every RS member in our ward (only a handful of them I knew) to come to the shower. They had instructed each woman to come with a gift(any gift of their choice) plus a blanket and then on the side, they had gotten together with these ladies also to make a baby quilt for my baby. I went to the shower and had the one of the best times of my life and came away with almost two carload of baby stuff.

It was the most generous thing any one's ever done for me. I was humbled and in total awe of these two ladies' incredible compassionate attribute and their generous act of kindness. They reached out to me when I needed it most and even in all those times they were helping me, to help me fit in, they never once make me feel pathetic like I was some helpless child. Everything they did for me, I could truly feel the genuineness of their act. To me, they were like these guardian angels sent to earth specifically for me. To this day, I will always remember these two angels masquerading around on earth as humans who had taken a very young and unsure bride and mother under their wings to care for her as if she were one their own. Because of what they did for me in that early year of my married life, I hope that one day (I am always looking for ways to help anyone who might have been in my shoes back then) I can return the favor and show the same act of kindness to someone else who may need it.

5 comments:

TisforTonya said...

angel moments are the best... really truly little glimpses of Heaven. I had a VT show up once and announce that she was going to help me fold my laundry. Crazy? heck no, I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel and was stressed because my laundry was piling up... SO appreciated!

The Crash Test Dummy said...

Anjeny, that is so coooooooool. I love that there are angels out there masquerading as people. How lucky you are. It could have been a miserable start to your marriage.

LOVED THIS!

LY!! I miss you!

Anonymous said...

I feel ya on the "married to the love of my life but living so far from my family, in a strange place where everything is different from what I was used to" part!

Just months after marrying my husband we moved to California, and now we're moving to Hawaii... We're from Ohio. It's crazy hard sometimes!

Glad to have found a (soon-to-be) fellow islander! Following now!

Anjeny said...

T...it's always great to have someone shows up at our door and offer help. I always appreciate any act of kindness offered my way.

Crash..yes, I considered myself very lucky. Those were two of the most amazing and wonderful ladies I have ever met. And you're right, it would've been totally miserable for me. I am so happy to read you on here..miss ya too.


The Wifey..welcome and thank you so much for the comment.

TheOneTrueSue said...

What wonderful women. I love stories like these - thanks so much for sharing it.