Too Many Goodbyes...

  

I had one too many goodbyes this week.  We were  blessed enough to see the Valiquette clan one last time before they leave for Italy.  We loved seeing them and hated saying goodbye as they begin their journey back to Italy.  Of course we say goodbye though with much excitement for how God is going to use them over there. We love you guys very much and are always in awe of how much comfort and security you are willing to sacrifice to serve our Lord.  You are an inspiration to both of us.  

 And then I also had to say goodbye to my high school small group girls.  I know they will still (most of them) be here this summer and I know I will see them again, but it was still so hard to watch them stand at the front of the room and receive their send off.  I have poured so much of myself into them.  And they have impacted me even more than I have impacted them.  They have taught me so much.  I’m just not ready for them to go!  They have become like children to me and dear friends as well.  I am so nervous and excited for them all in one bundled package of emotions.  I look at them and think, “I can’t believe my parents let me move to Orlando to go to UCF when I was their age.  They are so little!”  Haha.  I just wish I could keep them here with me forever.

I love you girls and am so proud of all of you.  I will miss seeing your beautiful smiles and goofy faces.  I cherish each and every one of you.  I love you!!  Thank you for letting me be a part of your life.

“If you are not firm in faith you will not be firm at all.” Isaiah 7:9b

Happy Mother's Day!

Today we celebrate our two beautiful mothers and what they mean to us. We are pretty darn blessed with momma's that love us so deeply.  We are very thankful for them.  They both have set the bar pretty high!  

We are also thankful we were able to escape this weekend and spend some time with special friends who knew the heartache of this day as well.  We created a little staycation at the Harby home while they were out of town this weekend.  We referred to it as Hotel Del Harby most of the time.  It was so fantastic to enjoy the sun, river, and pool on such a beautiful weekend.  We did a lot of eating, chilling, sunset watching, tennis ball throwing (Lt would try and coax every guest to make this his or her sole purpose in life), and hanging out.  It was good for the soul.  I am thankful they were willing to spend the weekend with us.  And we are thankful the Harby's were gracious enough to allow us to take over their house while they were gone.

Thank you to all our sweet friends who remembered our hearts today.  Your encouraging words meant the world to us and we feel blessed to know that we have such great friends who care about us so much.

Happy Mother's Day!

Throwing in the Towel

Hey friends!  It has been a while since I have given an update.  Truth is, there isn't much of an update. I told myself that I wouldn't think about or talk about where Brad and I should go from here for a month.  That gave me time to just be and to also let Brad process a little more.  My mom, aunt, and cousin came to visit last week and their leaving marked a month from our second miscarriage.  I was so sad when they left, one, because I love and miss them terribly and two, because that meant my month was up and I was back to having to think again.  My hall pass ran up.  It was a really hard weekend for me.

Anywho, I really just feel like I am treading water these days.  I am enjoying being Brad's wife and doing the things I enjoy around our home and around town.  I stay incredibly busy and have a significant amount of freedom to fill my calendar with the things I love to do.  I am trying to soak up every second of that.  However, I am still left wondering, "What's next?" when I let my mind wander off from my to do list.

I told God a few days ago that I was, "Throwing in the towel."  Which He has probably been waiting for me to do since this whole thing started 2 years ago.  I really have nothing to offer up. I can't research anything anymore hoping to come up with the perfect answer to "fixing" our infertility situation. I don't feel physically or emotionally ready to give our other two embryos a chance yet.  I would LOVE to adopt, but I am still praying for God to align our hearts.  There is nothing I can do.  I have known this all along, but reality has set in.

This sounds silly, but I hear the way Brad talks and plays with the dog and I think..."He is going to be such a great dad and I can't wait to hear him do that with our children someday."  I want to hear giggles coming from the other rooms in our house.  I want to have a Saturday filled with baseball games and popsicles. The list could go on.  I just desire to have a family. I feel very ready for that.

One of my least favorite holidays is lurking around the corner.  If you think of it, please stop and pray for those who may not be experiencing the joy of Mother's Day.  I think of the women who have lost their mothers, don't know their mothers, lost a child, have been led to childlessness through singleness, and all the women who deeply desire to be recognized on this day, but are left empty handed.  I am very thankful for my mom and Brad's mom and celebrate them on this holiday, but will definitely be hiding out this year.
Thankfully, the The Players won't be stealing Brad away from me on this day this year.

Love and hugs to all of you. :)

My Two Men.

I wanted to do a special post to the two special men in my life.  Everyone keeps asking how Brad is doing and my response is, "He hasn't really had time to figure out how he is doing because he is too busy taking care of me!"  I don't know how I would have made it through this time without these two.  Brad even became a full time nurse for a few months there.  Most Saturdays he had to give up precious sleep time to make sure I had my shot before 9 am.  And we know how much that boy loves his sleep.  He did a whole lot more than give me shots.  He kept me sane.  A few days I got away from him in that department, ha, but he knew all he could do on those days is hold me.  And he did just that.   I love you, Brad.  I am so thankful for you and so thankful for the MAN God has grown you to be in this process.  (He is hating this public affirmation, but I think he deserves it.)

As for my other man...Mr. LT Harby.  Some say I shouldn't love this dog so much.  You know who you are :).  But I really can't help it.  First off, he is so stinkin' handsome, I just can't help myself.  And secondly, he is just awesome.  It is true that I thank the Lord for him all the time.   He has truly been a gift to our family.  He has caught many tears and shared in a million snuggle parties when I just needed someone to hug. Or hug me.   He has brought so much joy and laughter to our home.  Love you, Tweezle Dee.

                                             My Handsome Husband

   I don't know how I get anything done around here with that face staring back at me.

                                 LT still doesn't know he isn't a lap dog.

  

 Like I said, he has brought us lots of laughter. I tell him his face will get stuck like that if he                    

                                                    keeps sticking his tongue out at me.

He has even won my dad over.  Big accomplishment.  He got a ginormous tennis ball from Gpa.

                                       Road trips are one of our favorites.

                           A special invitation to the couch for a snuggle party.

  This was taken after the first no.  What a friend. :) Keeping me company and licking up tears.

Love you two and very thankful for both of you. :)

An Attempt to Digest the No...

Sorry it has taken me so long to get on here and give you all an update.  As you may have heard or guessed, we didn’t get the answer we had prayed for this time around.  Hearing that our embryo didn’t make it again knocked me flat on my butt.  I didn’t have the emotional energy to try and put any sort of anything into words and I am pretty sure I would regret a lot of the things I would have said two weeks ago.

I took this miscarriage a lot harder than the last.  I think I knew last time we would try again if it didn’t work.  This time, I knew I would be sent spiraling back into the pit of waiting.  “No,” seemed so open ended and hopeless to me.  Do we move on to adoption and allow God to grow our family that way?  Although, I know my heart gets excited about that idea (not that I have or ever will let go of the dream of carrying my own child), I have no idea if and when God will allow that for our family.  I KNOW I need a huge break from all this IVF stuff.  I am flat emotionally and physically wiped! So here we are again back to this place I hoped not to return to again.

I have spent a lot of time swimming in anger over the last few weeks.  Let’s just say I don’t understand a few things.   I have a friend facing infertility that after reading Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward,”  asked where she had gone wrong to not receive the reward. This was my response, “Hey there. These aren't unfamiliar thoughts to me. I must have done something wrong since I am not receiving the reward. A few women in my life have helped me check this thought... Instead of, "Why me?" ask, "Why not me?" I don't say that easily and most days I cant even utter those words... But what is God DOING? How is He using you to bring glory to His name? He has chosen me for this path, and it wasn't an oopsie daisy, He is well aware of your testimony. I had a dear friend (who is 20 years into the journey) say that she sees it as a calling. God knew she had the strength to love children that were not from her womb. He chose her to love the fatherless. That really spoke to me. It's all in how we look at it... Is He witholding or is He holding out His hand with an incredible treasure that He has picked out for only you and your husband? 

Trust me, I have your same questions, but in order to carry on I have to Put On truth and hope. I have to hope that God has an incredible thing up His sleeve. All the women I know who are further along in their journeys would tell us that He does have a great reward for us too... But it just might not look like the reward we were expecting. 

I hope this brings you hope. Not down playing your feelings. I carry those in the corner of my heart too. I just can't let Satan take any opportunity to turn God's story into his story.”  Ha, that is what is so HARD about this journey.  One day it is easy to say all these things and then you are forced to live in it.

I had to ask that same question.  Where did I go wrong, Lord?  Why do all these people I know get to sleep around, live a life that is not honoring to you and still receive your reward.  I know there are several lies and issues in this thought, and I will get to that, but it is extremely hard to not ask that question.  Why do the women who could care less about carrying a child, complain the whole pregnancy or are too high to even feel the baby kick, get to have the incredible experience of carrying a child??  Why do they deserve that experience?  Why do all the people who don't really care about children have the opportunity to have a whole van full?

I realize there are several lies weaved through all of these thoughts. If God were a God of reward and handed out deserved punishment, I would be going to hell.  Blunt, I know, but true.  I wouldn’t deserve a single blessing from Him. I know that I am saved by the GRACE of God, not by anything I did or didn’t do.  It is a free gift. I could never be “good” enough for a Holy and Perfect God.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast,” Ephesians 28-9.  “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace,” Romans 11:6.   I know that His grace should be sufficient for me (2 Corn. 12:9).  That should be enough for me. I don’t deserve anything more than what He has already given me in and through salvation. I clearly see that I have a false understanding of self to think I am better than the women I deem unfit to be mothers. I also know that God isn’t withholding in the way that we define withholding. I have to trust that He isn’t refraining from answering our prayers out of punishment, but but because His answer is different and better than mine.  I have been encouraged this week that He has a greater reward for us and He isn’t withholding a child because he doesn’t think we are good enough.  I also know from scripture that the women God made “wait” had huge rewards through whom their children became and the role they play in the Lord’s great novel.  Sarah with Isaac, Rebekah with Jacob and Esau, Rachel with Joseph and Benjamin, Hannah with Samuel, Elisabeth with John the Baptist... just to name a few examples. I am not naming myself as the bearer of the next promise child, trust me!  But I have to trust that the Lord is not wasting my pain in barrenness. 

I know those are a few of the lies that I have to battle daily, amongst others. 

Currently, we are taking a break from fertility treatments.  We need time to regroup, refocus, rejuvenate…and so on.  I am re-grieving the possibility that we may not have biological children.  Not giving up hope, but realizing again that God may have something else for us.  I am ready to mother and have a family, so I am having to let go of my ideas all over again and let the Lord lead us in what He has for our family.  I’d started to believe again that we may get a little Brad and Sharlie through IVF.  I am not saying He still can’t choose to do that, but I also feel like we need to be realistic and seek out other options while seeking a biological children also. 

Thank you for the prayers over the youth retreat last weekend.  While I wasn’t 100% myself, I did feel sustained and thoroughly enjoyed my time with my girls.  They make me laugh and allow me to escape into another world.  Some of you may be asking why the world of a teenager would qualify as an escape, haha.  But it is a much more simple place.   Interestingly enough the lessons for the students that weekend were exactly what I needed to hear. We spent the weekend studying the UNSHAKABLE faith of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their faith was the same and they knew who their God was no matter their circumstances.  In short, when they (the Jews) were exiled in Babylon, they were required to worship the Gods of King Nebuchadnezzar. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were reported for not worshipping the king’s golden images.  The king ordered for them to burned in a fiery furnace.  They answered, “If this be so, the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if no, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold image you have set up,” Daniel 3:17-18.  They knew their God had the power and ability to deliver them from the fire, but they also knew He could choose not to and if he didn’t they still vowed to remain true to who their God was and their faith.  This really hit home with me.   They were being thrown into a FIREY pit and were offered the chance to escape, but Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to still remain faithful and trust God, EVEN if His answer was no.   Faithful, even if He chose to leave them to burn for choosing to worship Him in opposition.  Am I going to remain faithful even when God responds with no?  If He responds with no, will I still bow down and worship Him?  I was really challenged by their faithfulness and encouraged to press on.  Challenged to trust that He can deliver us from infertility, but if not, to continue in faithfulness and refuse to worship another. 

As you may know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were rescued from the fire. “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.’ Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them,” Daniel 3:26-27.  AND because of what the Lord did, the king responded, “ ‘Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon,” Daniel 3: 29-30. Here is hoping that our story brings God glory in the same way that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did.  Of course that requires being faithful no matter what our circumstances.

I love that I went to the retreat last weekend with the intentions to serve and God used it to serve and encourage ME!  Thank you again for your prayers over the retreat weekend.

So where do we go from here?  That is the question we are asking right now.  We are not sure what’s next for our family.  Just taking it day by day, attempting to refocus on why we are really here.  Brad and I are here to live lives that bring glory and honor to Jesus Christ and to share His free gift with others.  We are prayerfully seeking what He has for us in that area and in our family's future.

If you could join us in praying for our next steps, we would greatly appreciate it.  Specifically, I am starting to feel the weight of our friends heading into round two of babies.  I feel like I am sinking even deeper into the pit of childlessness as everyone else’s family continues to expand.  Pray that I would be able to enjoy these miracles as well.  And the baby boom of 2010 has created a boom of 1st birthday parties.  I really don't want to miss those moments in their lives, but I also know how hard it is on my heart. And I never want to be the stealer of joy...I think I need wisdom on knowing when to attend and when to step back.  Please pray that we wouldn’t let satan get a foot hold in our marriage or in our relationships with the Lord using his crafty little lies.  I pray that I would be sustained and filled with joy and hope for what He DOES have for us.  

Love and thanks to you all.  Your support and prayers have been felt. 

It's a No.

Hi all. Sorry I have not been on to post.  Some of you may have heard already that we got another, "No."  I wanted to give you a quick update.  We are deeply disappointed and grieving our losses.  Feeling more encouraged as the days go on.  Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.  I am headed out of town for a youth retreat.  Please pray for sustainment and emotional energy to serve them.  They are a joy and bless me greatly, but I am a little nervous that I have not much in me to give to them.

I will post as soon as I can with more details.  Thanks again for the prayers.

Precious Cargo

We successfully had a frozen embryo transfered yesterday.  They didn't get us in until about 3:30 pm even though my appointment was at 1:45 pm.  I think they were a little behind. ha.  They never are, so we didn't mind at all except for the fact that my bladder was about to BURST!  When you go in for a transfer they have you drink 16 ounces of water an hour before your appointment.  A full bladder forces your uterus to lie flat.  Last time, if you remember, I had to drink 48 ounces of water to make my uterus lie down. SO this time, I drank 24 ounces an hour before my appointment, just to be one step ahead.  Needless to say, 2 hours and 45 minutes later...I couldn't wait any longer.   They eventually got me in and we are very thankful that our embryo thawed well and was ready for the transfer.  There is some risk that it won't survive the thaw and we aren't taking the fact that it made it through that phase for granted. Miracle #8 in the process.

The procedure went great.  The doctor and nurse staff were especially chatty, so it wasn't uncomfortable at all.  Who thought you could sort of have a good time during a procedure like this?

I stayed in bed most of yesterday and this morning/early afternoon.  Brad was a fantastic nurse as always.  Making sure I actually stayed in bed. :)  Hard for me to do.  I was much more relaxed about it this time.  Even though they said that you could sit up to eat last time, I ate my first meal horizontal on the couch last round.  This time I did sit up to eat!  And even moved my resting location a few times.

Thank you sweet friends for the delicious meal, sweet notes, texts, calls, and special delivery treats.  They all brought us great comfort and encouragement.

Please continue to pray for baby Harby.  I know we ask for a lot of prayers.  Thank you for giving them so generously.  Please also keep the women in our Common Thread ministry in your prayers also.  I am not alone on this roller coaster ride for sure and we have a few women that received God's answer of, "Not yet," today.  My heart is beyond heavy for them.  I know this heartache all too well and am deeply saddened for them.  I am thankful that God has provided a way for us to walk through this together.

Just wanted to give you a quick update.  Ps- thanks for all the eye makeup remover suggestions.  I can't wait to give one a spin!

Hugs.