Sherry Moore Budniak of Lagrange,  Kentucky, had

      never thought of dreams as special.  She had just

      had her third daughter and also had gone through

      a tubal ligation, due to her rocky marriage. She

      would not bring any more innocent children into this

      household, she had decided, where things were more

      like a nightmare than a dream. But her husband still

      wanted out, and soon left her. Sherry worked hard

      to keep her little family together, and try not to fall

      apart. However, there were, on occasion, little signs

      around her, events that told her she was not alone.

      "Once my four-year-old told me that she often saw two

      bright angels that followed me everywhere," Sherry

      says. "And sometimes I simply felt a presence around

      me."  Often she prayed that God had not forgotten her,

      and  would bring her a good man to love and appreciate

      her.

      Several years passed, and then Sherry met Chris, a

      wonderful man and an answer to her prayers. Soon they

     were married. "Chris is a caring husband, and a

     wonderful stepfather to our daughters," Sherry says. "And

     he never once mentioned his regret at not having a child of

     his own." But Sherry knew how he felt. And when she

     consulted her physician, he believed that there was a chance

     Sherry could become pregnant again. "We began an

     agonizing journey," Sherry says. "And finally things worked!"

     The couple was overjoyed. This baby would have all the love

     it needed, Sherry knew.

     One day in May 1998, Sherry came home from work

     unusually exhausted. She was midway through her

     pregnancy and had been feeling well. But now she went

     to bed, and fell into a deep sleep. At one point, she felt a

     light touch on her toe.

     Immediately, she opened her eyes and looked at the clock.

     Three-thirty a.m. Then Sherry saw something else. "There,

     standing by our bed was a very tall woman with dark wavy

     hair," she says. "It was an angel, and it seemed to be

     floating, and glowed the most glorious shade of blue. For

     some reason,  I wasn't at all afraid." Nor was she in pain.

     Then the woman spoke. "Get up, Sherry. We will have to try

     this again." Sherry obeyed. Horrified, she discovered that

     she was bleeding profusely. Chris called her physician, and

     they rushed to the hospital. Sherry had miscarried.

     Furthermore, she had been near death. "If you hadn't

     awakened when you did," the doctor told Sherry, "you

     would have bled to death." Sherry hadn't awakened by

     accident---she was sure of it. Nor was her vision just a

     dream---it was far too clear. But she was heartsick too.

     Had it been wrong of her to try and have another baby?

     Should they abandon their dream? One night, she

     remembered something. "My angel said, 'WE will have to

     try this again"," she told Chris. "I think, if we do try, it

     will work this time." Her husband wasn't so sure. But his

     longing for a child overcame his objections. And nineteen

     months later---just before Christmas---Chris and Sherry

     brought their new baby daughter  home.

     During her second pregnancy, Sherry never saw the dark-

     haired woman. "But I will remember her until I die, and

     treasure the experience," she says. "I fully expect to see

     her again someday."