Visit with my dad

Jason and I got a visit from my dad in mid-July. While he was here Jason and I found out that we were pregnant and go to share with my dad in person! It was a great weekend :)

We ARE Pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!

Jason and I are filled with such joy!! We found out this past weekend that God has blessed us in ways our hearts have desired for so long now! We thank God for entrusting us with His child(ren) and so look forward to each stage of this wonderful new journey. My heart feels such pure joy and peace from our Lord; thankful that He has always been here with us and will always be. I will write a whole lot more later, but for now I just wanted to announce it before time got away from me!

Saturday, July 17th, Jason and I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive; the most beautiful sight we've seen! We took another one on Sunday and Wednesday and still two lines! I will hear the official blood results from the doctor today and go in for an ultrasound in mid-August to determine how many blessings I am carrying.

Thank you Lord for entrusting us with infertility and now with our sweet babies!

The Endowment for Human Development

I've spent some time going through this website and really like it. It shares a lot of prenatal development in beginner, intermediate and advanced terms. The explanations and images/videos are great.

I wanted to share it with everyone in case you are interested!!


http://www.ehd.org/dev_article_intro.php

Our Babies Are Now With Us!!!

Yesterday, July 7th was our big day in which our sweet babies were transferred back inside my womb! We did end up transferring three and pray that all three implant and grow healthy and strong. I’m now on bed rest for a few days making sure I give them every chance to implant as possible. It feels great to finally know that they are with us again. The three months in between egg retrieval and fertilization and now was emotional. It was hard knowing our babies were created and here on earth but we couldn’t be with them. Now I know I’m giving them everything I have and praying every minute for them and us. I pray expectantly for I feel they will grow and most importantly I know God’s greatness. I pray most importantly for God’s will over mine however for I know God is forever good and His ways are perfect. I thank Him for His joy and peace He gives me daily.

We now wait a couple of weeks before a pregnancy test confirms what we are praying for.

On a different and yet very similar note, I started reading ‘Sacred Parenting” by Gary Thomas recently. Let me tell you this is an awesome parenting book! The book focuses on our spiritual growth through parenthood versus the numerous books out there all giving advise on ‘how-to’ raise ‘good and successful kids’. As Gary puts it, “We spend so much time talking about the how-to of parenting that we neglect the equally important ‘why’ of parenting. This is unfortunate because the ‘why’ eventually drives and even shapes the ‘how-to’. With the wrong ‘why’, our motivations will get skewed, and while the ‘how-to’ may be effective, it’ll be effectively wrong."

I have many favorite quotes from chapter one, but here are several to give you an idea:

“The more time I spent with my kids…the more open they seemed to God’s presence in their lives. The less time I spent with them, the less they seemed to pray. The observation both sobered and humbled me; somehow, in their minds, I helped shape their passion and hunger for God.”

“The process of raising children requires skills that God alone possesses… parenting regularly reminds us of our absolute humanity… Our ability to relate, to understand, and to build intimacy comes up short in a way that God does not.”

“To pin our hope and joy on the response of any given sinner is a precarious move at best. To pin this same hope and joy on the response of a sinner in his or her toddler or teen years is to beg for disillusionment and to risk waking up in despair.”

“One we realize we are sinners, that the children God has given us are sinners and that together, as a family, we are to grow toward God, then family life takes on an entirely new purpose and context. It becomes a sacred enterprise when we finally understand that God can baptize dirty diapers, toddlers’ tantrums and teenagers’ silence in order to transform us into people who more closely resemble Jesus Chris.”

“Paul first tells us to purify ourselves, not our children. Many of us are so tempted to focus on purifying our children that we neglect our own spiritual growth. He then goes on to give an example that when we in an airplane and an emergency happens, we are instructed to first put on our air masks and then our children’s. We are useless to our children unless we first help ourselves…

“Child-centered parents act nicely toward their children only when their children act nicely toward them. A child-centered parent goes out of the way as long as the child appreciates the sacrifices. A child-centered parent bases his or her actions on the kid’s response. A God-centered parent acts out of reverence for God.”

“If parenting were only about behavior modifications, Jesus would have praised the Pharisees and kicked dirt on the adulterous woman.”

Yes, those are all the quotes I wanted to share today and no they are not the whole chapter! I just really enjoyed the chapter and think we all need to read this and take this to heart every day. I pray that my focus is always on God and that I serve my husband and children He has and will entrusts me with accordingly.

Before I started reading the book, God led me from one Scripture to another until I stopped on 1 Peter 5:2-4 which is a perfect quote for parenting!! I’ll leave you with this Scripture verse:

“Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Christ Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

June Summary: Laugher and Playing!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything in my journal either. I guess you can say that Jason and I have just been enjoying life and each other the past couple of months. While there is so much I could write about, I think the best thing to do is summarize May and June:

A Time of Laughing and Playing
Jason and I have spent so much time ‘playing’ these past couple of months. Jason started to play softball with the men’s church league and thus we have been getting into playing catch multiple times a week. It’s been so nice getting outdoors and enjoying the weather; albeit hot and humid here in Houston… Before it got too hot we spent a lot of time on our patio enjoying our back yard. We’ve played and relaxed a whole lot more; just truly enjoying each other’s company and friendship. This has been great therapy after a rough 1st half of the year.

Dancing!!
For a while there, Jason and I were not able to go to the dancehall due to my foot problem. After the health issues in March/April and having to stay off of my feet, my foot has been so much better. We’ve fully taken advantage of this and have gone dancing at least 5 or 6 times the past 2 months. What a gift! We’ve had a blast.

Dallas
My best friend Tiff got married mid-June in Dallas. We left Thursday night after work and came back on a Sunday. Her wedding was on a Friday and then we stayed on Saturday night also so we could go dancing. We even got to see my family while we were there as they were in town that weekend as well. It was all great fun. Here are some pics!

Transfer Prep Began
I began to take the meds to prepare for our upcoming transfer back in May sometime. Because of the hormones I’ve been on, I’ve been struggling with not being able to sleep at night and mood changes. There’s nothing you can do about the sleeping, but God has helped my moods. I’ve learned to joke a lot about how it makes me feel knowing God can help me not act it out! Another strange and very rough thing for me is my inability to focus on reading. I LOVE to read and this past month I have not been able to read (or write) more than a paragraph or two without getting sidetracked. This is just not like me. Within this past week however, I’ve felt so much better and I’ve been able to read again. I’m hoping the writing aspect is coming along as well. My mind is clearer and I am not so grumpy ;) I am thankful and I’m sure Jason is too! I’m so ready for our transfer and for our little babies to be with me again. I’ll write more later this week.