“I’ve never been so thankful for a zippered tent,” Susan said the next morning when they found David curled up between them. They called it quits after two nights, hoping things would be better next time.

After losing two sons, Jimmy was concerned that Susan might be overly protective of David and not allow him to simply be a boy and explore and, at times, fall. But from the outset, she was able to do the hard work of letting go a little bit each day. They talked about that one night after David turned three and had bumped his head on the coffee table after jumping off the couch with his Superman cape flying behind him.

“I have fears of him getting hurt or that I’ll be driving and get into an accident,” she said, “but from the first moment I held him, I told God I would trust Him. I don’t want him to grow up afraid to live. And that kind of attitude is caught more than it’s taught.”

“Can I still insist he wear a helmet when he gets his first bike?” Jimmy said with a smile.

Three years into their marriage, Melissa felt her relationship with Brian slipping. They had tried to save for a house but car repairs and monthly bills got in the way. And so did a bass boat Brian came home with one day. He’d bought it from a friend of a friend who gave him a great deal, he had said. Melissa couldn’t contain her anger and he shut down after the argument. Her first problem was the fact that he hadn’t even talked with her about the purchase. And they had never taken the promised honeymoon, so she felt it a double wound. Then came the fishing trips on weekends with his buddies. That angered her even more. She could fish better than the whole load of guys Brian hung out with, but that was the problem. They did less fishing and more drinking.

She thought a baby might be the very thing to bring her and Brian together. But each month when her period came, she felt like God might be punishing her. Maybe she wasn’t fit to be a mother after what she had considered with David. The months turned into years.

Then, just as she was thinking seriously about leaving Brian, she began getting sick in the morning. The feeling brought back memories of the morning sickness she’d had with David.

After her positive pregnancy test, she handed the results to Brian.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Depends on what you think it is,” she said.

He ran a hand over his face. “Seriously, Melissa? Just when we’re getting our feet under us?”

“You knew I was trying to have another baby.”

“Yeah, but I thought it wasn’t going to work. This changes things.”