After decades of being separated by life’s circumstances, I am thankful to be enjoying renewed fellowship with some of my Pfeiffer cousins. We’ve met in churches to say goodbye to beloved aunts and uncles, we’ve met in a diner for lunch and laughter, and we’ve met on Facebook, where it has been possible to peek into each other’s lives and thoughts.
In our childhood, we met at Grandma and Grandpa Pfeiffer’s little country house where the kitchen often smelled of molasses cookies and where it was necessary to take a walk outdoors to find the “bathroom.” When we all came in for Christmas, we sat shoulder to shoulder as loud conversation and laughter filled the home. Each grandchild was given a special gift to unwrap.
I found myself collecting memories about my cousins this week after I read a beautiful Facebook post written by one of my Uncle Jim’s daughters. Dad’s brother Jim, his wife Carol, and their kids used to visit our house back in the 1960s. I remember riding bicycles in our driveway and singing “This Land is Your Land…This Land is My Land…” at the top of our lungs. I remember playing Hang Man on the chalkboard in my bedroom while our parents played cards. Our families were so similar, brothers whose wives had the same name, three girls and then a baby brother in each. But their family was unique, too, with the oldest daughters being twins, twins named Diana and Cindy, wearing red jumpers and headbands in the above photo.
It is my pleasure to share with you, dear Readers, the words my cousin Diana wrote to express her love of life and family and her concern for the youngest, most vulnerable lives among us.
Our parents had no idea they were having twins. They were told a little boy was on the way…only 1 heartbeat was detected…but God had other plans. Momma went on bed rest for a little while…and gave birth to us at 7 months. Our birth weight was minimal…we had some health problems…and the Doctor had little hope we were going to live. We were in the hospital for a while…hooked up to machines…and as Mom put it…fighting so hard to live. I am so thankful for the faithfulness of God…I have a twin who is the other part of me…I have a husband and family that I love…and…I am beyond blessed to have Nikki and Joe. To see how God is working in their lives…everything about them…would not have been…if thru this process…things would have went differently. If the idea of our fate would have had to be in the hands of someone else. My heart is so broken…for the women who feel there is no other way out…pray that God will bring people into their lives to let them know there is another way. For those whose conscious is hardened…pray for God to touch them as well. In the midst of this…we need to pray…and fight…for these precious babies…both in the womb and out of the womb. They have a legacy they could be leaving too. May God…in his infinite wisdom have mercy on us.
Facebook post from Diana (Pfeiffer) Holt, February 27, 2019, shared with her permission
The twins were born three days after Mothers Day of 1959. Sixty years later, they and I, women so tremendously blessed in our family life, complete with ups and downs, but always in the loving care of our Creator God, are grieved by our nation’s acceptance of abortion, even in the last trimester. As Diana said, Lord have mercy.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Love it Lisa..we are so blessed.
Well said!