From Gerry & Caroline

A Baby Sent From Heaven. (Continued, page 3)

As I had said earlier in the testimony, Caroline found it hard adapting to Medjugorje. Although the party in which we traveled with were so nice to us to the extent that we could share the problems of our lives and theirs as if we had known each other all our lives. This sharing created a bond between us, which would last throughout our pilgrimage. But for Caroline how could I make her happy in our third day there? Caroline told me that she wanted to go sunbathing to make her happy I agreed. When we look back on it now, we must have been the only people to go into a field next to St. James Church to sunbathe. Caroline was later to ask me if I did this to please her? The grass was so long that the sun could not see us. It made her happy but Our Lady was about to help give Caroline a happiness that would last far beyond her imagination. The following day was Sunday, and I went out early to make the Stations of the Cross on Apparition Mountain before ten o’clock Mass. Caroline was organizing what we would wear that day while I was out.

Just then a knock came to the door. It was John asking Caroline if she would like to go to the ten o’clock Mass as they had the chance of a lift in a car to take them there. Caroline told John that I was on the Hill of Apparitions, John told Caroline to leave a note and that I could make my own way to the church. By the time I came back I was to late for the 10 o’clock Mass so I decided to go to a later Mass. In the meantime Caroline and John were arriving at the church. As they entered the church John met one of the nuns, who was looking after some of the orphans, as they made their way to their seats. Now because there were so many people in the church, they had to all squeeze tight together. Caroline made signs for a little orphan girl to come sit on her lap, the little girl smiled and sat with Caroline during the Mass. Caroline later recalled how one little girl would change her life forever.

On the morning of our departure, Caroline and I said our sad good-byes to Evanka’s grandmother. Over our week stay there with her, she became like our own grandmother, always kissing and cuddling us and making sure we were fine. We’ll never forget the day we left, as the coach drove away, the grandmother standing at the door. This lovely old lady who was granted the grace of touching the Mother of God on two occasions. How could we forget someone so kind and special?

We made our way to the various guesthouses to pick up the remainder of our friends and we were on our way as this little village disappeared into the distance. I thought to myself, we have witnessed a little piece of heaven on earth. On our way to the airport, we said our rosary. Caroline and I have never prayed so much in our lives. Maybe Our Lady would help answer our prayers after we collected our luggage at Gatwick airport we all said our tearful good-byes and before no time we were back home in Scotland.

The second morning home, something remarkable happened, I was a wakened suddenly by the uncontrollable sobbing from Caroline. After I calmed her down she said to me "How could I ever say that I could not adopt an older child? Children like that need so much love." It took a journey of a thousand miles to this small village and a little orphan girl to sit on my Caroline’s lap before she could realize how wrong she was by saying no to accepting an older child. She then realized just how much love an older child needs. When we both look back at our lives, before going to Medjugorje, we had let our faith slowly slip away. We were more interested in other things, how wrong we were. Quickly we started the process on adopting a child of our own. This time we put our prayer life first. By going to mass as often as possible, and also saying our rosary each night. This way we were going to let Our Lady intercede for us.

Now, because we said Yes to Our Lady, by going back to Mass and reciting the rosary both of us were to receive a wondrous blessing. I remember often hearing the saying "God can move mountains". Well, I can find no other words to describe the following months of our lives. They were simply remarkable indeed. Over the years Caroline and I would have let our faith diminish if it had not been for our experience in Medjugorje where the love and peace of the people is immense, we dread to think the paths our lives would have been without it. This little village is a part of heaven on earth.

A year or so had past since our trip to Medjugorje when we received word from the adoption society. We were to start a six week course, this was to prepare us for the adoption of a older child. From the start to the finish of the course we both knew then that this was meant for us. How could we not love these young children? We both had so much love to give them. By this time Caroline and I were attending Mass almost daily asking Our Lord to help give us the grace to cope with our intended adoption. At night we always said our rosary, not just for the adoption, but for anyone in need of prayer. When we look back now and see how far we have come, had it not been for prayer it would of not been possible.

After the course finished, we had the long wait to be assessed and then matched with a child. Now it was during this wait period in early November '96 that something remarkable happened. Caroline had received a phone call from my sister who wanted to only talk to me and wouldn’t leave a message. So when I returned home I returned the phone call. And this is what she had to say...