“You never knew us, but you loved us all the same,” Aburime Ehimare wrote in a letter to the congregation, “and opened your hands and hearts and took us in as co-heirs of God’s kingdom.”
Fourteen years later, Ose Ehimare and the quadruplets — Alyssa, Bibiana, Noah and Valencia — made the 6,000-mile journey again so that the four teenagers could be baptized among the family that helped them come into the world.
The church set aside part of its Sunday service for the celebration. Cathy Hendrick recalled the months that she and her husband, Northlake elder Jeff Hendrick, housed the family in their ground-level apartment.
“People coming by at 1 a.m., 4 a.m. … it was just constant,” Cathy Hendrick said. “This was quite an operation.”
Cathy and fellow caretakers Susan Tippins and Julie Clinebell talked about the countless hours spent rocking babies, changing diapers and making trips between the Hendricks’ house and the neonatal intensive care. They rejoiced when all four of the children were released, “healthy and wonderful, each of them,” Tippins said.
“It’s like this always when God calls on us to act,” Cathy Hendrick said. “We think we’re doing something, but we’re not. We are the blessed ones, and we were so totally blessed with this whole story, and it continues to bless us in every way.”
Aburime Ehimare and the couple’s older daughter, Chavela, were unable to attend the service. So Clinebell read a letter from the quadruplets’ father to the congregation.
“It is impossible for the story of my life to be told or written without mention of the extraordinary act of kindness and love that you demonstrated to my family 14 years ago,” Aburime Ehimare wrote. “My family and I will forever remain thankful, and the story of your love has become a constant refrain in many congregations … converting many to Christ and strengthening the faith of others.
“Now, the quads are happy to return to Northlake congregation, the place where their journey of faith and love began, for their baptism. Over the years we have endeavored to instill in them some enduring values: integrity, compassion, humility, obedience, hard work and a deep sense of service to others.
“Your act of kindness, wrought 14 years ago, has now expanded the body of Christ with four souls to the glory of God our Father. … Thank you all for embodying the love of Christ, for your unrelenting support, unquenchable fellowship and for continuing to be a light in our lives.”
The quadruplets, dressed in their West African Sunday best, stood and thanked the church members for their hospitality. Then all four crowded into the baptistery with Jeff Hendrick. Before he immersed them into Christ, the church elder shared the answers to questions he had asked them a few days earlier.
