A Sisters Miracle

I had an amazing experience on the night of January 24, 2008. I coached my college team, IUPUI, to a victory over Oakland University of Michigan. I must say, I looked sharp in my black shirt, cream-colored vest and slacks, but there was one thing missing. I coached without shoes or socks on.

I was trying to raise awareness for needy children in Africa. So, in conjunction with an organization called Samaritan's Feet, I set a goal of collecting 40,000 pairs of shoes. I decided on the number 40,000 in honor of the fortieth anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I learned about Samaritan's Feet after a mutual friend had given my phone number to Emmanuel "Manny" Ohonme, a native of Nigeria and founder of Samaritan's Feet. Ohonme received his first pair of shoes at the age of nine from an American missionary. He eventually earned a scholarship to play basketball at Lake Region State College in North Dakota.

Samaritan's Feet came up with the idea of me coaching without shoes. They told me the idea, and, at first, I laughed because I thought they were surely joking. They weren't. Then I remembered a recruiting trip to Lagos, Nigeria in 2004 where I saw examples of extreme poverty. The call from Ohonme and prayer were enough to persuade me to go shoeless for a night.

I told my team about the mission, and it moved freshman Christian Siakam, who is from Cameroon. He said a lot of college athletes get free pairs of shoes and take such perks for granted. There are so many kids in Africa, including people in Siakam's family, who don't have shoes. It hit home with him. I knew we were doing the right thing when I saw the look on his face.

When we started this cause, I thought our goal of 40,000 shoes was going to be tough. When I was told before the game that we already had collected 100,000 pairs, I almost broke down in tears. Thousands of those shoes were donated from Converse, Wal-Mart, Nine West, and the Department of Homeland Security. As a result of our "campaign," nearly $20,000 and 110,000 pairs of shoes were donated to Samaritan's Feet. The shoes were given to needy children in the United States and around the world.

This has turned into a full-time job for me. I never did this for the publicity. I'll be honest with you; I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life. This is not something I'm going to stop doing next year. I will continue to do this as long as I live, whether I'm coaching or not. It's overwhelming. I haven't had a day go by when people haven't dropped off shoes at my house.

Time will tell whether I coach another game barefoot, but I promise I'll get a fresh pedicure just like I did this time. By the way, we won the game that night. Maybe I should coach all of my games barefoot!

How often do you feel the hand of God reach down into your life and know with all certainty that he created a miracle? It's not very often you can see his artistry at work through our physical bodies, but it was clearly evident for my sister and me.

A few years ago, my husband and I were trying to get pregnant with baby number two. Our daughter, Isabella, was two and a half. We had been trying for a while to get pregnant, but every month we'd get a big fat "no." It was getting depressing.

At the time, my only sister, who is three years younger than me, was pregnant with identical twins. I was so jealous. I admit it. I wanted to have twins, too! After all, I was older than her, and I knew it would probably be my last pregnancy. I would have conversations with God about how my heart ached for twins. It was my closely held secret that I only shared with God.

The magic moment finally arrived! I got the solid double lines every woman knows is the clear message that a baby is on board. We were elated. All the while, in the back of my mind, I thought, "Could this be twins?"

At my first eight-week medical appointment, I brought my hopes to my doctor's attention. He listened to me tell the tale of how my sister was having identical twins. "Couldn't I be pregnant with twins, too?" I asked.

My doctor said, "No, Joanne. Identical twins are a fluke of nature or an act of God. Fraternal twins are hereditary. You have one baby in there. Now let's go get the sonogram done." Down the hall we marched.

I walked to the sonogram room a little discouraged. If you knew me, you'd know I don't give up on much until I have to. "Hope springs eternal" is my motto! I remember slowly getting undressed, taking my time and practically holding my breath in anticipation. The whole time, I kept thinking, "It's not over until it's over." It became my dressing room mantra. Honestly, I was afraid to leave the changing room! At least while I was in there, I could still hold onto the possibility of having twins. Once I left that room, the sonogram would begin, and the dream would possibly come to an end.

I got up on the examining table and didn't say a word. I felt like I'd jinx the moment. I was afraid to breathe. My husband Michael was by my side. I watched the woman doing the sonogram so closely, as if I could read her mind. I watched for changes in her expression - a small eyebrow lift or a tilt of the head that would show something was different. She must play a great hand at poker because there were no tell-tale signs on her face. Then I looked at the monitor. I blinked, and then I stared. I saw two little buds, curled up next to each other. Surely my eyes were deceiving me, considering I didn't know the first thing about reading a sonogram screen. I quickly blurted out, "Are there two?"
She replied, "Let me see if I have heartbeats."

Heartbeats? Did she just say heartbeats?

After the longest moment known to mankind, she exclaimed, "You are having twins!"

All the bottled-up anticipation began to spill down my face with the release of joyful tears. My husband began to cry, too. He grabbed my hand and held it close. It was as if, at that very moment, I could feel the grace of God reach down to me and say, "Here is your dream." I could feel it, I could sense it, and I felt like the luckiest girl on the planet.

I went on to have a very difficult pregnancy. I spent five months on complete bed rest. We were being monitored for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a serious complication that can occur with identical twins. Each week we had sonograms to see if the babies had made it through another week. At twenty-three weeks, I had surgery to keep the babies safe inside. I also had gestational diabetes, which meant insulin injections twice a day. Without hesitation, it was all worth bringing these precious children into this world.

The day of their arrival was joyful beyond description. Our beautiful, tiny angels arrived and were placed in our anxiously awaiting arms. To feel them finally safe and close was such a relief. We named them Sophia Grace and Gabriella Faith because, with a little grace and faith, all things are possible.

The bond between twins is amazing. They were meant to share their life together. And the bond between two sisters' twins is a miracle. My sister's incredible boys and my delightful girls will share more than just being twins. They will share a friendship that will span a lifetime. Was it a fluke of nature or an act of God for two sisters to be naturally pregnant with identical twins at the exact same time? We all know which one it was.