Here is your first female, guys: Mary Elizabeth Lourdes. Age 10 (almost 11 in February. In case you haven’t caught on, January-March is “birthday season” in my family. This is when the majority of the birthdays in my family take place) Anyway. Mary is the energetic and fun-loving sixth child.
“Oh I think that I’ve found myself a cheerleader. She is always right there when I need her.”~Cheerleader. OMI.
Oh goodness. Where even to start. I guess from the beginning, when my mom was pregnant with Mary and I wanted desperately for her to be a boy (so that our family would have six kids: 3 boys and 3 girls. Just like the Brady Bunch. Yes. That is the sole reason why I wanted a third brother.) I remember that night so clearly. Sitting around my house the evening of February 10th, seven years old in my footie pajamas, with my Grandma and four other siblings when my dad called to give us the news. Because I was the most enthused about the whole having-another-baby thing, and also because I wanted to be the next Brady Bunch so bad, I got to be the first sibling to talk to my dad. This was the conversation, Me: “Ahh! Is it a boy???” Dad: “It’s a girl!” Me: “What?” Dad: “Her name is Mary Elizabeth Lourdes, she’s healthy and was born at 8:24.” A million thoughts where passing through my mind, like ‘Oh my goodness. We can never be the Brady Bunch. Ever.’, ‘My whole world is crumbling around me.’, and ‘Why the heck does she have three names??’ It was quite the traumatic night for me.
Fast forward almost 11 years, and this child who I was disappointed with for the first little bit of her life, turned out to be one of my best friends, and probably the sister I can relate to the most. Mary is my partner in crime, my shopping buddy, my photography model, my best friend, and the girl who unfortunately tells my mom everything I tell her not say. i.e., “Hey mom, Cass has went over 100mph in Dad’s car one time!” (That little bit I don’t very much appreciate.) Mary is my little cheerleader, and gives me reason to be good at life so that she has someone she can look up to. Whenever I’m in a goofy mood, I need to rant, I have to run out and buy junk food on a whim, she’s always there for me with whatever support I need. (Also, the name thing, she got the extra “Lourdes” because her name is in honor of Jesus’ Mother Mary, and she was born on, or close to, the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. It’s a Catholic thing. Anyways..)
This crazy girl has brought me so much joy, and I can’t even imagine life without her, or life with her as a boy. Ew. Her whole life is just one big lesson to me to trust that God actually knows what He is doing. Something may seem extremely disappointing at the time, and maybe for a while afterwards, but eventually God will show you that He works in mysterious ways, and that whatever you have in mind, He has something even better planned for you. Yeah, my family is not the Brady Bunch. But first of all, there can only ever be one Brady Bunch, honestly. And even though I thought they were the stuff back when I was seven, I look back now and realize that their clothes are actually bizarre and they had to have a housekeeper to take care of them. Pft. Ain’t nobody got time for a housekeeper. Also, I realize that there will always be times when you want something someone else has, even their family. I wanted a 70’s family to be my own. But God had different plans and I landed with a family of 11, 5 boys, 4 girls, and no housekeeper. And I would take my family over Mike and Carol’s any day.
It’s hard to think that somebody else has bigger and better plans for you than you do. It’s hard to think that someone out there knows you better than you will ever know yourself and that He can look into the future and know what is better for you now to have the best outcome then. It’s hard to give up something we thought we wanted. But. It’s amazing when God comes through and you end up with something above and beyond.
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”~Jeremiah 17:7-8
Guys. God knows what he’s doing. If you are confused, hurting, stressed, or worried, just let it go. He has His plan. He made this plan before you were even conceived. He knows you better than you will ever know yourself. He will do everything to work out for your good. When He closes your tiny little door, He’s going to open His big, beautiful window. My little pathetic door was the desire to have a brother to copy a sitcom family. His window was my kind-hearted, beautiful little sister. And also three more brothers after her. Food for thought, my friends. That’s all for now. Stay Sweet.
~Cassie
Cassidy Sangster 