Faith overcame fear for these grateful new parents of twins

[Isabella]

After 12 years of marriage, pregnancy was a surprise. Friends and family have helped in the midst of the pandemic.

Hadassah and Tabitha were born at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle on June 24. They arrived three weeks early, delivered by cesarean, both weighing 5 pounds, 13 ounces. Today, the Flores home in the Lowell neighborhood is filled with all the joys and coos, hungry cries and wakeful nights that not one but two babies bring.

Flores, 35, said that in sharing their story she hopes to let others know what helped them through fears of the virus, a higher-than-average-risk pregnancy and economic uncertainty.

Both she and her husband are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and members of a Spanish-speaking congregation that meets at the Kingdom Hall on Everett’s Madison Street. Before coronavirus restrictions, they met every Sunday and Wednesday. Together, they also shared their faith through door-to-door visits, going out weekly.

All that had stopped by late February 2020, after the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses closed assembly halls and halted in-contact preaching. “We quickly understood this was very serious,” she wrote. And by the time she was 6 months pregnant, she had also stopped in-person visits with friends and family.

Hector Flores, now back on the job with a window and door company, was furloughed for three months starting last March. And Marisol, who had worked cleaning apartments in Seattle, was no longer able to do that. Savings they had for their growing family dwindled.

With money tight and their spiritual routine interrupted, they turned even more to faith.

Soon, they were joining weekly meetings of their congregation online via Zoom. Rather than going door to door, they preached biblical messages through letter writing and by phone.

“Although our situation seemed dire, I was happy to have my husband at home keeping me company and helping me with the many, many things I could no longer do,” she said. “I was happy to see our friends from the Kingdom Hall online and felt their support.”

Reading and sharing Scripture “made me feel uplifted and courageous,” said Flores, whose family came to the United States from Mexico when she was 6.

In these worrisome times, she believes others may find comfort where she finds it, in the Bible — especially the Book of James, 4:8. It says, “Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you.”

Read full article: https://www.heraldnet.com/news/faith-overcame-fear-for-these-grateful-new-parents-of-twins/