And Here We Go!!!

It's hard to believe that I am writing this right now but the time has finally come for us to get started!!! YEA! We are leaving tomorrow morning for San Antonio for our first bloodwork and ultra-sound in the in-vitro process. If everything looks good tomorrow, we will begin our injections on Saturday and begin (hopefully) growing lots of eggs that will be harvested and fertilized in the very near future! I have dreamed about this moment for the past year and a half, and cannot believe that we are really here, ready to go! I feel that I am finally ready to be at this point, about to step off the cliff into the unknown, but prepared for what is to come. A year and a half ago, I was not ready. But God has worked on my heart throughout this process to come to this point and I believe that His timing is far better than my own! YEA!

This has been an extremely busy, but fun week! I have wanted to sit down and write out a blog all week, but my duty as Aunt Heather has clearly come first! We have been so blessed to have Grant, Hillary, Jordan, and Jaxson with us this week while Jordan attended VBS. We have had so much fun laughing, having slumber parties, swimming, dancing, and playing. It has been great to have my mind so busy so that I have not had time to stress about what we are about to do.

On Tuesday, we received our shipment of medication for the upcoming cycle. We had a minor panic attack on Monday when the pharmacy informed us that one of the medications vital to the process was on nation-wide backorder. Thankfully, Dad and Mom stopped and prayed before lunch and God stepped in and took care of us once again. The medication was found in California and arrived on our doorstep at 9:30 the next morning! God provides!



My box full of medications...complete with 40 needles!!!

I have to admit, God has been working extremely hard on my heart during this process. In the early stages of infertility, I was very private about the struggles that I was going through. I did not want to share anything with anyone, trying to keep the pain to myself. Somehow, I felt that if I shared this journey with others, it would only make me feel worse and more inadequate. I felt like I was letting everyone down, by not being able to get pregnant. When I had my miscarriage, I was devastated, but kept even more to myself, feeling ashamed and embarrassed that I had lost the pregnancy. I had no idea how much Satan was using these feelings to take hold of my life. A very wise woman (Loann Baker) gave me some precious words after my miscarriage at Camp Victory. She told me that when I kept my struggles to myself, I was forfeiting the prayers of all of the people around me who loved me. Satan was winning this battle by encouraging me to keep to myself! There are so many people who would have willingly been praying, had I just let them know what was going on!!! Thanks to these words from Loann, I made the decision that Satan was NOT going to be victorious during this process! God is going to REIGN in this, and every, area of our lives. This blog has helped me not hide in my pain, but to share my feelings with those around me, who I know are lifting us up in prayer daily. Shame and secrecy is the work of Satan, but the POWER OF PRAYER is going to present and evident in every step that we take!

We have been very blessed to hear from so many people that they are praying for us! Last night, we got the very humbling experience of being prayed for by the elders of our church. Probably the neatest part of the journey was getting to see the experience through Jordan's eyes. At first, I did not know how she would feel about it, and thought that she would probably want to stay in the gym and play in the bounce house. But my precious little niece told me that she wanted to be there to make sure that the elders "did it right!" Hearing how excited she was about this process has confirmed that we are following God's will. We are excited to share in prayer again with some very special friends tonight, before this process begins.

We know that there are many others out there want to join us in this process through prayer. Our request is that you pray right now for:

1. The doctors and nurses who will be handling our case as we proceed.
2. Derek as he prepares to give me injections in the coming week.
3. Me, as I prepare to endure injections this upcoming week. Also, please pray that I will have a sense of peace throughout the process and that God will take away my fear and anxiety. : )
4. My eggs to develop and grow so that we can have healthy embryos
5. That God will be glorified during this process.

My goal is to update this blog often in the upcoming week as we progress with information and specific prayer requests. We love you all and can't believe we are actually getting started!!!

PSALM 113:9 "He makes the barren woman of the family a happy MOTHER of children. Praise the Lord!"