The muggy silence that hung outside my bedroom window that August night in 1982 was pierced by the ringing of the telephone. A baby call. My mother was a baby-catcher (a midwife) and whenever the call came, she went. Too young to stay at home by myself, I went with her. I planned to draw or sleep as Mother worked, but on that night, as storm clouds burst overhead knocking power out for miles around, nothing went as planned.
As the night wore on, I heard Mother call my name. "Pearl, I need you. Now." She then carefully placed a tiny baby in my arms. "Wrap him nice and tight and hold him," she said, a sense of urgency in her words. "But, Mother," I protested. Her only response was, "Pray, Pearl. Just pray." I settled into a chair and stared into his perfect little face. I was captivated. The storm outside and the room around me faded away. All at once I felt myself falling, tilting, slipping sideways. Unable to stop myself my only thought was, "Don't let go of the baby. Hold on to the baby. Hold on... " What happens next is astonishing. Pearl's heavenly journey and the beautiful consequences of glimpsing eternity change her life and impact her entire community. As you read this amazing story, you will experience the incredible, and maybe, just maybe, your life will be transformed as well as you discover The Baby-Catcher Gate.
