I can’t explain it. It was almost as if an angel had shown up in my living room and said, “Don’t be afraid. The child I’m giving to Edesa and Josh is God’s child, and I’ve chosen themto be her parents.”
Nothing had changed . . . and yet a sweet joy started to bubble up within my spirit, tiny flutters of excitement reminiscent of the magic I used to feel as a child at Christmastime—except this was real Christmas, and the exhilaration was deeper and more urgent. I wanted to run . . . run like the shepherds and tell somebody, tell everybody, that what the angel said was true! God was alive among His people, working out His purpose—and I didn’t need to be afraid!
Instead, I made a beeline for the kitchen phone as fast as my gimpy foot allowed, and dialed Josh’s cell phone. It rang six times before he picked up. “Yeahumph?”
“Josh? Oh. Did I wake you?”
Two seconds of silence. “Mom. It’s only, uh . . . 6:50.”
“I’m sorry. Just wanted to tell you that you and Edesa are doing the right thing—going ahead with the wedding and the adoption, I mean. God told me it’s all right.”
Another brief silence. “Thanks, Mom. That means a lot.
Really.”
“School doesn’t let out until Friday, which is a huge bummer! But if there’s anything I can do . . . ”
“I’m sure there’ll be something, Mom. Just take care of your-self.” I heard a click.
I hung up the phone sheepishly. “Huh. That was kind of dumb, waking him up just to tell him that,” I murmured aloud, the way I used to do when Willie Wonka was underfoot. But I grinned. I didn’t care. Back in the living room, I put on a CD of Christmas carols by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, selected the funky Caribbean track I liked, and turned up the volume. “Christ-mas!Christ-mas! First day of the Son . . . !” Made me want to dance.
It was time for Denny and Amanda to get up anyway if we were going to get to church on time.
Not that they came out of their bedrooms singing and dancing. In fact, I got a bleary look from Amanda on her way to the bathroom, and a shout from Denny: “Jodi! Where’s my bathrobe?”
I tossed Denny’s robe into the bedroom and headed for the kitchen in my sleepshirt to make waffles. On my way through the dining room, I lit the fourth candle on our table Advent wreath and smiled. Well, let Denny and Amanda hear their own angel.
THE TEENS HAD decorated the sanctuary after the potluck last Sunday, and the room glowed. White lights outlined the large “storefront” windows, garlands of artificial greens and more lights adorned the walls, and a stunning banner in purple, red, and gold hung on the wall behind the low platform, proclaiming IMMANUEL! GOD WITH US ~ WONDERFUL COUNSELOR,MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE.
I drank it in, reflecting on each of the beautiful names of Jesus. But curiosity got the best of me. I said aloud to no one in particular, “Who made the beautiful banner?”
“Estelle Williams, I am told,” said a familiar accent behind me.
The hairs on my neck stood up, as if someone had shuffled their feet across a carpet and zapped me with static. I whirled.
“Hoshi!” I screeched, throwing my arms around the tall, willowy young woman standing behind me. Then I held her at arm’s length, drinking in the very sight of her. Hoshi Takahashi’s jet-black hair hung long and silky down to her shoulders, softening her long face. Her bow-shaped smile pushed up her cheeks, turning her almond eyes into happy slits. “Hoshi Takahashi, you nearly gave me a heart attack! What are you doing here? When did you get back? You didn’t tell us!”
“She told me.” Peter Douglass leaned over Hoshi’s shoulder and grinned. “I picked her up at O’Hare last night.”
“So Avis . . . where’s Avis! She knew, too, and didn’t tell us?”
Peter moved off, chuckling.
“I am so happy to see you again, Jodi!” Hoshi took both of my hands in her long, slim ones. “I have missed Yada Yada so much. When I got Edesa’s e-mail about the wedding, I could not wait.” She glanced around the large room. “Will Josh and Edesa be here today?”
I giggled. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything! They’re trying to plan a wedding . . . trying to move . . . trying to adopt . . . it’s been a bit crazy around here.”
I saw Florida and crew coming in the door, letting in a blast of frigid air, with Stu and Estelle right behind them and knew bedlam would break out when they saw Hoshi. I grabbed her in one last hug. “Oh, Hoshi, thank you so much for coming home.”
THE ADVENT DANCERS that Sunday were even lovelier than before. Their dance was relaxed and lyrical, and I caught them glancing at Amanda, their dance coach, proud to show how well she had taught them. The lighting of a candle as we sang each verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” heightened the sense of expectation that had been building all month. And then the fourth candle was lit as we sang:
O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind . . .
A promise yet to be fulfilled? It seemed like God had a long way to go to “bind all peoples” into one heart and mind. And yet—it was happening, in spite of governments and war and politics. Hoshi had come to us as a student from Japan . . . Edesa from Honduras . . . Nony had gone back to South Africa . . . I grew up in Iowa . . . Florida and Yo-Yo had been raised on the streets of Chicago . . . Delores’s extended family was still in Mexico . . . Chanda had immigrated from Jamaica. Every one my sister because of Jesus. Jesus had made us one.
I was drained by the time the service was over. Even the scripture that morning from Isaiah 40 had rained like new words on my ears: “‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ says your God . . . the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth; the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
I still wasn’t sure what had happened to me that morning. I couldn’t begin to explain it to Denny, or to my Yada Yada sisters who swarmed all over Hoshi after the service, excited to meet at Avis’s apartment that night and hear all about her months in Japan. All I knew is that the reality of Immanuel—“God with us” was not just something that happened two thousand years ago, but was still happening right now, in my life—me, Jodi Marie Baxter—and I felt comforted.
AVIS’S THIRD-FLOOR CONDO—she and Peter had moved into a lovely, red-brick building that had been renovated—felt like a secret hideaway tucked up among the treetops, although in winter only bare branches sheltered her exposed windows from the third-floor apartments across the street. But the gleaming wood floors, patterned area rugs, bookshelves, and tan-and-black leather furniture always invited me to unclutter my mind and drink in the calm.
However, Avis’s apartment was anything but calm by the time all of us Yada Yadas crowded into the Douglass’s living room that evening, talking all at once. Oh, wait. I didn’t see Becky Wallace! When I asked Florida if she was coming, she shrugged. “Doesn’t have a babysitter for Little Andy. Told that girl she shoulda stayed put.” Oh dear. No car, no babysitter . . . surely she could figure out something.
Edesa showed up without Carmelita’s baby. My soon-to-be daughter-in-law grinned at me. “Josh is babysitting. He might as well get used to changing diapers.”
I giggled nervously. Hearing “Josh” and “changing diapers” in the same sentence was one more shock to my system. But I gave her a hug and whispered in her ear, the same message I had phoned to Josh early that morning. Her eyes teared up as she smiled and hugged me back.
With only a week until Christmas, the turnout for Yada Yada surprised me. Of course. Hoshi was back! Chatter swirled around her. Did she have a chance to talk to her parents again before she left? Did she think her aunt or younger sisters would come to Chicago to visit? When did her campus training begin? Where was she staying?
“She’s staying with us for the moment,” Avis broke in, coming into the room carrying a cake loaded with whipped cream and fruit. “This is a welcome-home treat, Hoshi. I hope I didn’t mas-sacre it too badly.”
Hoshi’s eyes widened when she saw the cake. “A Japanese Christmas cake!” She laughed when she saw the questions in our eyes. “Many Japanese celebrate Christmas, even though most are not Christians. But my family usually bought our Christmas cake.”
The cake was a marvel, like a sponge cake with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and peaches not only on top but in the middle. Where Avis found fresh berries in Chicago in December was beyond me. Florida poked me as Avis cut the cake. “Didn’t know Avis could make anythang ’cept mac ’n cheese,” she murmured.
I snickered. “You’re so bad, Flo.”
Avis finally managed to call us together by beginning our prayer time with the chorus to “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”We all joined in the slow, worshipful words: “O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Hi-im, Chri-ist, the Lord.” As the chorus ended, Avis rephrased the words and we kept singing: “For He alone is worthy, for He alone is worthy, for He alone is worthy-y, Chri-ist the Lord.”
After worship, Hoshi shared more about her plans to join International Student Outreach on American campuses, starting with her training in January. “But I am so happy to have a few weeks just to be with Yada Yada, my first spiritual family. Although, I was hoping Nonyameko would be here. Is she not coming after all?”
“Yes! She’s coming!” several of us chorused, although I was worried. We still hadn’t heard when, exactly, the Sisulu-Smiths were arriving.
“Dat sista better come home!” Chanda folded her arms. “’Cause we planning a big reunion party on de New Year, an’ mi already bought a dress an’ shoes.”
“But that was before we knew Edesa was gettin’ married,” Yo-Yo protested. “I don’t want to get dressed up twice in the same week—”
The whole room hooted and burst into laughter. The most any of us had seen Yo-Yo “dressed up” was a new pair of overalls at Avis’s wedding.
“—unless I can wear my overalls to—”
“No!” five voices cried at once.
“Not to de wedding,Yo-Yo Spencer.”Now it was Chanda’s turn to protest. “Dis time we all gettin’ decked out for dis wedding, an dat means you, too, sista girl.”
“But it’s just at the shelter.”
“All de more reason,” Chanda sniffed. “Mi want me t’ree kids to show some respect for a wedding, even if it’s not in de church.”
“Kids, schmids.” Ruth rolled her eyes. “A wedding we’re having with babies, kids, husbands, oy vey! Maybe the reunion should be just Yada Yada.” She fanned herself.
“Perdóneme!” Edesa squeaked. She looked on the verge of tears. “I did not want our wedding to upset plans for the reunion. We chose Christmas weekend because we knew Yada Yada’s reunion was scheduled for New Year’s, so Nony could be here . . . ”
My heart melted. Ever since Josh and Edesa had announced their intentions, I’d been fussing about the date, wondering why they didn’t wait until after Christmas—and all the time, Edesa had been willing to sacrifice the more reasonable time, even sacrifice Nony and Mark’s presence, so it wouldn’t conflict with our reunion.
I confessed, right then and there, and asked Edesa to forgive me. Now Edesa really was crying, and we hugged and rocked a long time.
“Ahem!” Adele cleared her throat, arms across her bosom. “I think we should appoint a reunion committee to make plans, tell us what’s going to happen, and the rest of us will show up. And leave Edesa and Jodi off the committee—they have enough to do with the wedding coming first.”
“Leave me off too!” Estelle rolled her eyes. “I have a wedding dress to make!”
Adele’s suggestion met cheers and applause. In quick succession, Adele, Stu, and Chanda volunteered—and Avis was shanghaied.
We closed the meeting with prayers of praise for bringing Hoshi back to us and then gathered around Edesa, laying hands on her and blessing this huge leap in her life, from single student to mother and wife. And daughter-in-law, I thought.
As the prayers ended, Stu asked Edesa, “Are you registered for wedding gifts? What do you need?”
“Registered?” Edesa looked confused. Stu explained about registering at her favorite stores so people could get gifts she wanted and needed.
Edesa laughed. “We need everything! But especially things for the baby.”
“Everything?” Ruth snorted. “If it’s everything you need, then it’s everything you’ve got. You can have it all—changing table, dia-per pail, baby swing, baby clothes. In fact, get pregnant on your wedding night if you want—we have doubles! But it’ll have to be a boytshik. ”