"You crown the year with Your goodness,
and Your paths drip with abundance."
Psalm 65:11
Words just don't seem to do justice to all that is in our hearts right now... These last days and months have been SO full, I hardly know where to begin.
For those who have not heard our wonderful news, we are expecting our little miracle Baby Love in early October! Today I am 14 weeks pregnant and Edgar and I can hardly contain our joy and delight as we prepare to welcome this little one into the world.
Also, we are buying a HOME here in Dallas! Read on to find out more details...
This pregnancy came as one of the best surprise gifts we've ever received. Surprise? Well yes, we were actually quite surprised when we found out on January 26th that we were expecting a baby!
Early last fall, we worked with a wonderful fertility specialist who confirmed that we are indeed healthy and very fertile, and we did two fertility treatments with her clinic. Choosing to go forward with these treatments was another deep layer of surrender for us. We felt the Lord was asking us to be willing to let Him move in any way, shape or form He chose and not limit Him to how we wanted the story to be written.
Although both treatments went textbook perfect, they did not result in pregnancy...
And I was borderline devastated.
These two unsuccessful fertility treatments were extremely hard for me to deal with in my heart. I found myself thinking, "I can't believe I am in this situation. I can't believe this is my life! I never thought I would end up here..." Have you ever found yourself walking through a hardship that you had never imagined? or asking God, "Ok, what in the world was that all about?"
Yet for Edgar and I, this was yet another pivotal season of faith and hope and choosing to anchor ourselves into the rock-solid refuge of our Heavenly Father. We made the choice to worship and praise Him not for everything but IN everything. It was hard, but we chose to rest and delight in His perfect plan that certainly didn't make any sense to us.
And so we stepped boldly into 2014 - which marked exactly 4 years of trying to get pregnant and crying out to God for children - full of hope and faith, full of zeal and dreams for our future.
After ALL of that, when I woke up on January 26th and randomly decided to take a pregnancy test, I gotta be honest guys, I wasn't exactly expecting to find out that we are having a BABY!
"We went through fire and through water;
but You have brought us out to rich fulfillment."
Psalm 66:12
And yet, as we have learned to do so many times before in our long journey, we rejoiced with such joy on that day and we also wept with great sorrow. Because on that same day, our dear friends had to say goodbye to their precious little one long before they wanted to - they miscarried at 19 weeks... To find out both of these life-altering pieces of news within 24 hours was such a monumental exercise in trusting God's sovereign plan.
A few days later we were able to attend a small ceremony with our friends as they surrendered their daughter to the Lord and chose to walk through the valley of the shadow of death with brave hearts full of hope and faith. We admire them so much. We know their deep pain from personal experience and we honor their journey.
So we all trusted the Lord with our babies together... Having walked through two miscarriages before, it was really an active exercise of our will to daily - sometimes hourly - trust the Lord with this little life growing in my womb, knowing and believing that He is the author and sustainer of life.
"He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
and being fully convinced that what He had promised
He was also able to perform. "
Romans 4:20-21
The 14 weeks of this pregnancy have flown by in many ways, and here we are finding ourselves in early April, with a contract on a HOME! This was yet another sudden and delightful surprise. As long as things continue to proceed well, we should be home owners for the 3rd time in mid-May! It is an amazing thought to realize this is the home we will bring our new baby home to...it just takes my breathe away.
Update on our ADOPTION AND FOSTER PLANS:
The major slow-down in Uganda with international adoptions has continued to remain in effect. There are many complicated political reasons why this door is possibly starting to close, but the bottom line for us is: we still feel like we should keep holding on to the plan to adopt our little girl from Uganda until there is nothing left to hold on to. Towards the end of this year we will evaluate where the Uganda program is at and decide at that point how to proceed - keep waiting, or change plans to adopt from a different country.
In addition, now that we are expecting a baby early October, we will have to postpone any plans to foster until after the baby is at least 6 months old. We had already begun training classes and paperwork to get licensed through the state of Texas, but it will be at least a year until we reevaluate our course of action for fostering.
And so, our "adoption fund" savings account that so many precious people have so generously contributed to is waiting for us, waiting to help bring our daughter home safely to our arms...
And so, our "adoption fund" savings account that so many precious people have so generously contributed to is waiting for us, waiting to help bring our daughter home safely to our arms...
In all of these things, with every one of the children that God is going to bring into our home in the years to come, through loss and through gain, through little and through much, through trials and through joy, we trust Him completely and entirely! His plan is perfect.
Friends, thank you for rejoicing with us
in the sweetness of this new season!
(many thanks to our wonderful new brother-in-law John Chambers for spontaneously snapping these photos at a recent family dinner!)
