Since our home does not have a lot of space, my in-laws graciously agreed to host the meeting at their house. They have been actively involved with the Benedictine Foundation for far longer than my son has been attending the school. Prior to our son getting in, our nephew, their grandson, was in attendance at the school. My father in law serves on the Board of Directors and was vital in getting our son into the school.
During the meeting, everybody went around the room to introduce themselves and to tell how they came to be associated with Benedictine. My wife was first to speak and told how our son was currently attending the Benedictine School and that our nephew was a graduate of the school. A few other people told theirs stories.
Then it was my father in-laws turn to speak. He spoke about how both of his grandchildren were students at Benedictine and how much the school had helped them. Then he spoke about an event that occurred nearly 50 years ago when he was in the United States Air Force and stationed in Taiwan. He talked about how he and my mother in-law decided to adopt a local child to add to the family.
When they got to the orphanage, the nuns took my mother in-law to one part of the orphanage, and my father in-law to another. After they each toured the facility, they met up and both had found the daughter to add to their family. They found out that the girls were twins. They decided to adopt the sisters to keep them together. One of them became my wife and the mother of my son.
Now, I had heard the story of how they came to adopt their two daughters. What I had not heard, and neither had my wife, was the fact that the orphanage was run by nuns from the Benedictine order. In fact, one of the nuns was from Minnesota. Years later when my in-laws related the story to Sister Jeanette, who was the driving force in making the school what it is today, that she knew the nun that was in the orphanage.
I am sure that a lot of people will think that this is all one big coincidence. I prefer to think that it was more like the Hand of Providence. How else could you explain that my wife and her sister would be in an orphanage run by Benedictine nuns, both would have sons with autism, that would attend a school founded and run by Benedictine nuns.
