BREAKING PROTOCOL
-Our Journey of Sunflowers and Rainbows-
By: Angie Jennings
Well it happened! Life really went on. And I’ve come to find out that it really doesn’t matter if I want it to or not. The only choice I have in the matter is the way I react to it. My son-in-law, Fabio has fallen in love and gotten married again. Although saddened by the fact that my Rachel is not here on earth (because I want her here!) 
we know Fabio needs a strong Christian woman. We also know that our precious Abigail, which is nothing short of an angel filled with 23 of our Rachel’s chromosomes, masquerading as a five-year-old little girl doing cartwheels in our home, needs another mother figure. Now don’t get me wrong. Her Gigi has done a phenomenal job as well as her aunts Chessie Jennings Flanders, Nicole Boza, Christen Caple Wooten, and Sammie Carattini—- but this little girl needs more. In the words of my daughter Nicole Boza, “I would think Abigail has been yearning to call someone Mommy.” Speaking of Abigail’s Aunts (which sounds like another blog in itself), outside of my own Mother, these ladies are the ones that have allowed me to be “honestly me” with my feelings and help me put things into a healthy perspective. I am not closing a chapter of life-my greatest fear is that my daughter will be forgotten but I know she won’t. I look at my reflection in the mirror and I see her. I catch mannerisms in Abigail and I see her. She shares the same chromosomes as her brothers and sister so I see her. 
During 2019, our church began renting the facility to a Spanish church. They were in need of help, and they reached out to one of the churches from Mexico City. This church sent three missionaries to help them establish their church. You read that right— they sent Missionaries from Mexico City to Florida City. One of the young ladies they sent was Juliette Fonseca. She stayed for six months with two of her friends, helping to establish the church as well as beginning to come to our English speaking services, helping with audio/video, outreach, and basically anything they were asked to do, or I should say given an opportunity to contribute to. We celebrated Juliette’s birthday just before she had to go back to Mexico City. As a result of this interaction, I have very precious pictures of my Rachel Jennings Lam with Juliette. Yes they met. Yes they went out to Olive Garden together. Yes they served in outreach together and yes, they even attended a section 17 youth event together. Little did either ladies know what they would one day have in common. April 20, 2023, was a day we celebrated a birthday for brother Cecil. Some friends of his wanted to go to Cracker Barrel so I gladly attended. They were finished celebrating about 20 minutes or so before it was time for me to pick up Abigail from school. I remember sitting on one of those famous rocking chairs, sipping on my soda, just looking up into the sky and thanking God for the phenomenal peace that I felt. In fact, it was such a peace I wondered if I was even awake. I’m not kidding. Then my mid-grieving brain actually wondered if I was even alive. I decided to set my alarm so if I was asleep, I would wake up and if I was already in heaven, it really wouldn’t matter. I’m not kidding. These things really happened. Well, the alarm went off, so I was awake and I was not in heaven. As soon as I got into my car, I began having a ridiculous insatiable desire to drink a Starbucks iced chai tea. I mean it was absolutely unexplainable. As I drove towards Abigail’s school chastising myself for even thinking of indulging in this drink because I would be late if I got in the drive-through line to order it, I could not shake the feeling. My mouth was literally salivating. So I asked the Lord if he wanted me to meet a woman up there for Contact. Those who know me know I’m all about Divine Appointments! I thought of two ladies that I knew were off work at the time, but it was just like a “sandpaper in my soul” type feeling where I knew this was the wrong answer. At this point, I told the Lord I would like him to have the person I’m supposed to meet either text me or call me. Well, I picked up Abigail and no one had texted me or called me. I sat on my couch, thinking what a fluke that had been and opened up my phone to look at my Facebook. Lo and behold, in my Facebook messenger, there was something from Juliette, letting me know she was in the United States, specifically, Florida City, and hoped she got to see me. I let her know that I would love to see her and inquired where she was. You guessed it. She was at Starbucks! We are not a huge metropolis in this section of Miami Dade, but at this point we do have four Starbucks. What is the likelihood that she would be at the exact Starbucks that was walking distance from where I was sitting on that rocking chair having that supernatural piece? That is exactly where she was! I put Abigail in her car seat and we went right straight up there to visit with her. Long story short, Juliette reluctantly came home with me. Honestly, I I do believe that this was because she is such an independent woman and I do admire that about her. That one night turned into five months of Juliette staying with us and becoming part of our family. It was not until the end of her stay that it was obvious there was a spark of sorts between her and Fabio. They had taken Abigail out together, but toward the end they began to go on a couple dates alone. When Juliette went back to Mexico City, we knew that part of our hearts left. Our home felt empty. It came as no shock when Fabio went to Mexico City at the beginning of December. He sent us pictures and we could tell by the look on his face that he had found “the one.” Juliette came back to the United States this past January. She was greeted by Fabio at the airport holding a stuffed animal, chocolates, flowers, and hanging onto that five-year-old angel. We put the flowers in a vase at my house and within a day or maybe two, Juliette had found a huge sunflower that she proudly stuck right smack in the middle. She made sure that I saw it and told me “I got this for you.“ That’s a strong woman right there. She knows exactly what sunflowers represent to our entire family. Since then she has gone out of her way to point out sunflowers as well as rainbows. Juliette had some very large shoes to fill. Instead of trying to fill them, she just walked beside them. So for today, I would love to share with you what social media refers to as a short “photo dump“ of these pictures of Rachel and Juliette together, Julie with me at the last speaking engagement I gave on our healing journey, and of course their wedding. “Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19. 
Rachel's Voice 