An Article I Wrote...

I am involved in a "Mom's group" at my church. I was asked to contribute a story last month, so following is what I wrote:

Frozen Fish and Miracle Ice

Countless qualities are required in a mother, but two key characteristics are a good attitude and flexibility. As an individual matures from a girl to a woman, many adventures along the way provide great preparation for motherhood. Some of these journeys are filled with unpredictable twists and turns, slow ascents, breathtaking descents, or unforeseen challenges.
One such adventure in Christina Ingraham’s life began with great expectations. The summer after Christina’s senior year of high school, she joined with a group of about 20 young adults from her church for an exciting journey to Quito, Ecuador. The two-week trip the group would keep busy with many things including encouraging children at an orphanage, painting a mural on a church wall, repairing a church building, getting to know other young people through soccer games—and indulging in a meal prepared by the locals. (The main course was…guinea pig!—an adventure in itself!)
The first few days were filled with the planned activities; the last half of the trip, at least for Christina, had a different spin on it! One morning the group ventured about an hour or two north of Quito to visit children at an orphanage. While playing a game of baseball with the kids, Christina reached up to catch a pop-fly. Unfortunately, her pastor had his sights set on the same ball! The two bumped into one another—no big deal—except that the collision ended up with Christina on the bottom and the “POP” of her ankle breaking was heard across the field.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a sprain. I’ll walk it off,” Christina said as others rushed around to make her comfortable and to find some ice. “We don’t have any ice,” one helper explained, “but there is a frozen fish in the freezer.” Christina pondered the absurdity of icing her ankle down with a fish, and soon another person came up from behind the building exclaiming that he had discovered a big chunk of ice just lying on the ground. (That was the mysterious miracle ice from heaven.) Christina eventually got bored of sitting in the hot van with her feet up and started to scoot around on her rear end to “play” with the kids.
Ten hours later, after the bumpy ride back to Quito, Christina sat in the hospital listening to the doctor’s prognosis. She heard a word that sounded like the Spanish word for “cut,” and after a few minutes of worrying about whether her leg had to be amputated, she left the hospital sporting a hot and heavy plaster cast. For some reason, crutches weren’t available, and the remainder of the trip took on a new look for Christina as she scooted about on the dirt or rode piggy back to get around.
Christina still participated in the planned activities as she was able. She staked out the lower three feet of a wall being painted as “hers”—that was the area she could reach with a paint brush from a sitting position. She joked with the others about her situation. She tried to do her best to help in whatever ways she could and figured out some new ways to do things. By keeping a positive attitude and having the flexibility to do things a little differently, the entire situation turned out to be both memorable and humorous!
Christina has been happily married to Jeff for five years. Her daughter, Kayla, is 17 months old and baby #2 will join the family in February 2009. She finds every day that her role as a wife and a mother requires having flexibility and a positive attitude. As she and her husband manage a small business with limited resources, she is required to learn new things (Accounting---Agggh!). She is trying to perfect the art of keeping a positive attitude when business deals don’t quite turn out or juggling the finances, time and resources to provide both for the business and home life. Christina relies on the fact that God is with her through both fun and troublesome times. Her top priority is living life in a way pleasing to God. She understands that having a positive and flexible attitude are two keys to living well as a Christian, a wife and a mother.
A word of advice: Next time you travel south of the equator; remember to pack crutches!