Sunday, November 14, 2010

Papers, papers, and more papers.

Exciting things are happening! We finally, and when I say finally, I mean after getting on a waiting list in September, we finally have our application! I got an email Thursday night on the way to church from the agency we are adopting from. It included LOTS of information, and several documents. One of which was the schedule of fees and as it looks now, we may qualify for a state grant towards our adoption fee! The other document was the application!! This is SO encouraging!

Of course, because I am me, it was filled out within the hour. I had emails sent out to our accountant, pay stubs printed, forms notarized by the next afternoon. I may be a little anxious :)So here is the pictoral journey....


It is printed and in hand!!


Shortly after, Scotty fell asleep. It started out as 7/8 pages.....


And ended as a TON of pages!

So, because we (Scotty) are overachievers it will be dropped off on Monday to the agency. I don't know if my filling everything out SUPER quickly will come off as excited or annoying-but it will make me feel better!

On a related but separate note, we should be hearing from the doctor tomorrow hopefully on our test results from my biopsy on Monday. We aren't going to let that side postpone our adoption though. I know God is capable and will point us in the right direction-whatever it may be!

T & S

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Playing catch up......

It's been quite a while since our last post, mostly because we needed time to recover from this summer. I still think (almost daily) did I really go through IVF? First, because it seems like so long ago, secondly, because I think back on exactly WHAT I did go through and it seems surreal.

In my last post I told you guys (if anyone ends up reading this, lol) that we were waiting to have some testing done to see if there were any issues on my end. We had one test done, a saline infused sonogram. If it sounds like fun, you're wrong. It is not. But thankfully, everything was normal. They were looking for blockages in the cervix and everything was as it should be. Our next test will be a biopsy this coming Monday. When we get the results I will keep you posted.

In the mean time, we are pursuing other options. One of which is adoption. We are currently on a waiting list to adopt through Florida Childrens Baptist Home. It looks like the actual application process will start in January. Here is where we can really use prayers: there is only one social worker over adoptions-thus the waiting list. She can only do so much, and instead of having an indefinite wait time after applying, we are on a list. Overall they say the typical process is about 9 months, similar to a pregnancy. The more flexible we are with our choices, (race, gender, age, etc) the better chance we have to fit into the window they suggest. We don't have a preference on gender, which means we will be able to be matched with a birth mother sooner since we won't have to wait to find out the sex. And our age preference is newborn, we would love to be able to experience some of the ultrasounds with the birth mother.

Scotty and I have been praying fervently that we would be following God's plan. I still plan to get pregnant in the future, God willing naturally, but feel that adoption is another desperate need that had we become pregnant may not have pursued otherwise. I heard recently, God does not make mistakes. Is that so satisfying? Knowing that every second of your life has been planned to be the best for you? God was there through our years of not conceiving, and we've grown even closer with Him through it. He was there through our trials with IVF, and I haven't felt so intimate with him ever before. Now, we are on a new journey. Waiting patiently, if you know me this is not easy. But I have found solitude and peace knowing that where we are right now, what we have hurt for and grieved over, we are exactly made in God's perfect plan.

In the last couple months, we have migrated back to the Lakeshore campus at Van Dyke Church, which we now call home. We were attending North Campus, which sadly closed to to financial burden. We have also been attending Emerge on Thursdays at Van Dyke, and it's proven to be a much needed breather to our crazy, hectic weeks.

In other news, Scotty and I will be leaving for California in just a little over two weeks and we....are.....STOKED! We are going on a vacation, just the two of us! We haven't done that (being going away to vacation, not visit friends or family) since our first anniversary, with the exception of weekend trips. We plan to spend several days in San Francisco, take a drive over to Napa Valley, visit Alcatraz and the Redwood Forest. It will be a much needed rest, we are both impatiently waiting :)

So to close, instead of asking you to pray for us, I will be praying for you- our prayer warriors and readers! If you have a specific prayer, get at me-I certainly owe you a prayer or two ;)

Monday, August 23, 2010

Back to school...

It's been a while since our last post, and we have lots of updates...

I'm back to school now and trying to adjust to not getting to use the restroom when I want to, getting up early etc. Scotty is in Haiti right now on a mission trip with a group of guys including his dad, brother, and best friend. They are building houses and staying at an orphanage. When he gets back I'm sure he'll send an update telling all about his trip.

We found out on the tenth that our cycle of IVF didn't work. It was very difficult news to hear since it was such a long road. Now, we wait a couple months for my body to readjust and get back to normal then have some testing done to see what went wrong. Our doctor is shocked that we didn't have a successful cycle and thinks that there must be something going on with me. He has a few ideas in mind, so we'll do a sonogram, bloodtest, and biopsy. The best case scenario is that we find what the issue is, and maybe has been all along. Then we'll have a better idea of where to go next.

So to keep me company while Scotty is gone, my best friend Whitney came down! We went to paint pottery at practically pikasso with my sister and friend Jess.



Whit and I were able to fit in a quick trip to Magic kingdom and MGM....




She's back home now, too short of a trip. But I am lucky to have such a good friend!

Friday, August 6, 2010

5 Funfilled Years!

On Thursday, August 5th Scotty and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. What an amazing journey it's been so far. I feel very lucky and blessed to have found such an awesome guy at such a young age. Anyways, we're 5 years in and loving it!! Here is a pic from our dinner at the melting pot, there are two reasons why you don't go there often. Obvious is the price, but the second is how much freaking food you eat!!! Ohhhhhh it was SOOOOOOO good!

On our way...



Dessert....yummmm



Love you all!
Tera

Sunday, August 1, 2010

What a week!

So it seems like just the other day Scotty and I were standing speechless in front of the large box of medicine that had arrived. Also on the counter was a calendar for July that had everyday full of things to do, remember, and inject. Now, it is the week after the transfer. We waited for this day for months, years if you count from when we decided to start a family. We are both in disbelief.

The transfer went perfectly. They were nice enough to give me a valium to relax (although I was much calmer having done a practice run-mock transfer-and knowing what to expect). Too bad we waited for about an hour before going back and the valium was gone by then! I didn't think I would be emotional-ha, that's funny- but it was a very surreal moment. I've been told that you can see your embryo being placed, which is an incredible experience. Scotty did see this, I was having a hard time picturing it, I was looking for perfect round little things on the sonogram. What we saw was...."See that little dash? Those are your babies". What really hit me was while I was being prepped they brought in what looked like an incubator, glowing green and humming loudly. That was where our embryos had been stored for the last week. I guess I didn't realize that they would be in the same room with me, duh.

So now, we wait. I have a couple appointments over the next couple weeks, and a pregnancy test at some point! When we know we will send out a blog/email to let you all know.

Other than that, we are just wrapping up our summer. Scotty's been working of course, enjoying having a clean house because I have time to clean! I just met with Matt, the History teacher from my team at school who is also a dog trainer. He is helping Scotty and I gain back control of our house from Sera and Midas. The verdict is, Sera is going to be easy to train, Midas will be the challenge. Not surprised!!

We'd love to hear from all of you guys, let us know what's happening in your lives. Thank you for continuing to pray for us, we still have a lot that needs to happen before we find out. Most of which is out of our control now and we're relying fully on God!

Love to all of you!