I want to thank God for the miracle that just took place in our Danna family.  It had been 11 years since we had seen our granddaughter (my stepson's oldest daughter) who is now almost 13 1/2 years old.  The last time that we saw her was when she was 2 years old, and that's the last time that my step-son Sal saw her also although he has been faithful every week in sending child support for her.  My husband had tried calling the child's mother twice when she had a listed phone number about 5 or 6 years ago, but whoever answered the phone said it wasn't her although it sounded like the child's mother to my husband.  At that time we thought that she still didn't want to have anything to do with us, and we would never see our granddaughter again.

So it's really a miracle how we (my husband, our soon to be 29 year old daughter, & I) were reconciled to our granddaughter and our daughter's niece this past Saturday, 10/06.  It all began when our daughter in August had typed in her niece's name at myspace.com and found pictures of a girl who had the same name as her niece. (We found out this past weekend after meeting our granddaughter that the photos at myspace.com were not those of our granddaughter but someone with the same name) I then did a search on the internet in August and found the town that the mother of the child and the mother's parents were living in, and I also found the street address of the mother's parents with a listed phone number which has since been changed to unlisted.  However, the street address was confirmed by the tax assessor in the town where they live as being the correct address.   After seeing the pictures at myspace.com and believing them to be his granddaughter, my husband showed them to his son Sal, and told him that he wanted to see his granddaughter since he was 80 years old and no one knows how long they are going to live, especially, since he had hodgekins lymphoma back in 2004.

For about 3 weeks the letter that my husband was going to eventually write to our granddaughter inside of a beautiful card kept going through my husband's mind, and he knew that he had to write the letter and that God was moving him to write this letter. It kept going through his mind and he couldn't get it out of his mind.  He mailed the card out on a Tuesday, and the three of us prayed about it.  Wed., Thurs., & Friday all passed by, and then we got a phone call on Saturday 9/29 from the child's mother.  She told my husband that she broke down and cried when she got the card addressed to her daughter, and she asked her daughter if she wanted to see her grandfather. Our granddaughter told her mother that she did. In the card my husband told her how he missed seeing her all those years and that he loved her.  He said that we can't change the past, but we can change the future; and he wanted to be a part of her life. Both my husband and the mother of our granddaughter broke down on the phone during their conversation, and she agreed to bring our granddaughter to see us the following Saturday. We had both the mother and our grandchild over this past Sat. 10/06, and welcomed them both with a hug from all 3 of us, a cake that said Welcome with both their names on it along with a card, a present, and some money in another card for our granddaughter. We then sang her a belated happy birthday for all the years we missed in her life.  My husband told her that he loved her, and he knew that this was not going to make up for all the years of her life that we missed seeing her, but he did want to be a part of her life from now on.  He also asked her if she wanted to see her Dad and told her that her Dad loved her. She then looked at her Mom without saying yes or no.  My husband asked her again if she wanted to see her Dad with her Mom's permission.  Her Mom then stated that it was up to her daughter and to her daughter's father if they wanted to see each other or not. If they both agreed to see each other, then she wasn't going to stand in the way because she only wanted what was best for her daughter. However, the visitation needed to be on a regular basis. She also told us that she has another daughter who is 6 yrs. old whose father sees her on a regular basis so we could just imagine the emptiness and pain inside that our granddaughter must have been feeling all these years when no one came to pick her up or to see her.  So the next morning before we went to church, my husband called his son Sal up and told him he had a surprise for him and that he wanted to tell him about it in person.  After church, we went to see him, and I told him our prayers had been answered.  My husband then showed him all the pictures that the child's mother had given us of our granddaughter growing up through the past 11 years, and we also left with him pictures of our granddaughter that we had taken the day before. We told him of our conversation with both the mother of his child and his daughter the day before, and he agreed to see his daughter. He told us just to let him know the day, and the time at our home.

So Tues. night my husband called the mother of our granddaughter up again, and had another long conversation with her.  She agreed to bring our granddaughter over to our house on 10/20 to meet her Dad. She also told us that her daughter (our granddaughter) is jealous of her 6 yr. old sister who leaps into her own father's arms when he picks her up for visitation.  My husband also talked on the phone again with our granddaughter, and told her again that he loved her and that he had a surprise for her.  She asked him what the surprise was, and he told her that he had seen and spoken to her Dad, and that her Dad wants to meet her, and that her Dad said that he would see her anytime, anyplace, anywhere.  He then asked her if she wanted to meet her Dad, and she quickly replied,  "yes," and my husband said, "thank you."  She then said, "I love you Grandpa."  You can't even begin to imagine how joyful this made all 3 of us for her to tell a Grandpa who she hadn't seen in 11 years that she loved him.  It was like her saying thank you Grandpa that I am going to meet my Dad, and you helped to bring this all about.  When my husband got off the phone with our granddaughter, our daughter grabbed her Dad and they started dancing around and started jumping up and down on the floor with joy.  I joined in with them.  I can't jump up and down because of my lower back, but the 3 of us were all in a circle hugging each other and thanking and praising God for making this all possible.  I know I felt unspeakable joy, and they did too.  It felt like the story of the prodigal son where we had lost our granddaughter and now she was found, or how the angels must feel rejoicing in heaven when a lost soul is saved or what it will feel like when we are finally in heaven rejoicing that we are home with Jesus.  Believe me there was many a tear shed of happiness and joy in our house!

So my husband then called up Sal Tues. night, and told him that his daughter did want to see him, and he told his Dad that he showed his family the pictures of his daughter. He said his wife is happy for him and for his daughter that they will at long last be reunited.  He said their 11 yr. old daughter is excited about meeting her sister, but their soon to be 6 yr. old daughter doesn't understand.

I would appreciate very much if all of you doves would pray that the meeting between Sal and his oldest daughter and her Mom will all go smoothly on 10/20 at our house, and that nothing interferes with this reconciliation.  We thought it best that our granddaughter meet Sal's wife and her other 2 sisters at a later date.

Praise the Lord that Sal & the mother of his oldest daughter are going to put their past differences behind them for the sake of their child!  Praise the Lord that a child forever looking for her father to come to see her through her growing up years and wondering why her Daddy never came will no longer need to wonder if her Dad loved her because now she'll know that he does.  Thank you Lord for seeing the longing in a child's heart for her father and making the reconciliation between them possible on 10/20 and for making a way when there was no way for it to happen for nothing is impossible for you
O, Lord!  Thank you Lord for changing hearts and moving mountains for our granddaughter. Thank you Lord for bringing our granddaughter back into our lives.  Thank you Lord from the bottom of our hearts for this miracle in our lives!
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Wow! What a reunion! Thanks for sharing, Donna.
John