6 years.

Although this is a little majorly delayed - this past May Coy and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. 

6 YEARS!!!

Six years that have been filled with so much laughter, love, and fun. 

Six years that also included some really tough times; tears, yelling (mainly me), and fights.

Yet despite those tough times it has been the best 6 years of my life. I wouldn't trade these past 6 years for anything else in the world. I am reminded time and time again just how lucky Coy and I were to find each other and I never want to take that for granted. We are certainly not perfect but we definitely perfect together. 

In our six years as a married couple we have:

- lived in 4 different homes

- purchased our first home

- bought one new car

-gone through 3 job changes 

- survived a period of unemployment 

- survived almost four years of struggling with infertility 

- church hunted, found a church

-switched churches and found a new church home

- welcomed 5 nieces and 1 nephew

-vacationed in Aruba, North Carolina, Florida (9 times), Colorado, Tennessee, Mexico, Texas, and Thailand

- said goodbye to our sweet dog Sophie and had two puppies, Murphy and Macy join our family

-gone to King's Island and Holiday World

-gone to multiple drive-in movies (our favorite)

- had 2 flat tires and replaced one side mirror (that someone knocked off while hitting a trash can)

-welcomed the most beautiful and amazing miracle baby into our family

Six years down and a lifetime to go!!

 Pre-life together (before Coy really knew who I was)

Day 1

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

 Year 4

Year 5

Year 6

Now we give her to the Lord.

"So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord."

1 Samuel 1:28

Just as Hannah presented Samuel to the Lord, this past weekend we presented and dedicated Evelyn back to the Lord. Perhaps 'back' is not the right word. She has always been the Lord's. He knows her already. He loves her. He perfected her and brought her into being. And we are lucky enough to be her parents while here on this earth. Since before Evie's birth I have been praying that she will learn to love God and spend her life in relationship with him. I know the Lord has made her in his image and that he has amazing plans for her life. She is only three months old and I love being her mom. I love her smile. I love her new laughs. I love the way her eyes sparkle. I love her independent spirit. I love her from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. And yet, God's love for her surpasses all of that. At times my heart feels like it could explode at how much I love this little baby...but still, God's love is greater than that. He loves her in a way I humanly cannot even fathom. She has been beautifully, intricately, and wonderfully made and she belongs to the Lord. She has always belonged to the Lord. And now it is our job as parents to surrender ourselves (our parenting, our actions, our words, our leading by example, our love for her) to the Lord. To surrender ourselves and her to the Lord so that he can use her and mold her and so that her life can reflect his love in all that she does. She will one day have to make the choice on her own - the choice whether she will follow the Lord or not. I will not be able to control or force this decision for her when the time comes. But I will do everything within my power to bring her as close to the feet of Jesus as I can so that when the time comes for her to make this decision she will want nothing more than to give her heart to Jesus. 

What a great responsibility we have as her parents! What a privilege! What a challenge! We prayed for this child. The Lord answered our prayers. Our only response is to dedicate her to him...where she has always been and where we pray she will always stay.

 

 

This Easter.

I have always loved Easter. I love the reminder of just how great God's love is for us and the sacrifice Jesus paid because of how much he loves us. That was the ultimate sacrifice and one that is a great reminder of my value even in the lowest of times.

This Easter Coy had gone to church early which left Evie and I getting ready at home by ourselves. We spend most mornings like this but we are typically not on a schedule so I was a little nervous how the morning would go. She did great. Stayed asleep while I got ready. Woke up at exactly the right time to be fed. Was happy getting dressed. We even had a few extra minutes for some snuggles and a photo shoot. It really was an Easter miracle. And on the way to church I cried nearly the whole drive there...Shortly before we left the house my sisters sent pictures of their kids in their Easter outfits and this year, after years of waiting and wanting...I was able to send one back of my baby. My perfect, beautiful, precious baby. I was once again reminded just how gracious the Lord has been to us. When I look into her face I cannot help but be overcome by the miracle of her life and the goodness of God. In the years we spent in the desert, as we waited to hear from the Lord and waited for answers, he provided. Through our tears and suffering, he provided. And now, as we enter into a new phase of our lives he is still providing.
Evelyn has certainly changed my life. She has changed our lives. She is stretching me in new and unforeseen ways. She is a miracle. A miracle that we waited a long time for. I never want to forget the  way that the Lord provided during the years we waited for her arrival. I never want to forget the graciousness of God to bless us with her when we had finally resigned to a life that was childless. In the same way I never want to forget or take for granted the sacrifice that Jesus paid for our lives on that cross so many years ago. My suffering as I waited on the Lord seemed unbearable at times. Yet this suffering was nothing compared to God giving his only Son. And this suffering, while it was great and made me ache in ways I had never experienced before, was nothing compared to the greatness that waited for me at the end.

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." 

Isaiah 40:31

During these four years of waiting there were times that I did grow weary and I definitely grew faint. But through it all I continued to hope in the Lord and he would renew my strength just when I thought I had none left. He is the ultimate provider. Even in the darkest of times he continues to provide. 

This Easter was especially special to me because we were able to celebrate with our precious little Evelyn. Although she is obviously much to young to know about Jesus and his love it is our hope that as she grows she will learn to love Him and spend her life in relationship with him. We pray this daily. We will continue to pray this for the rest of her life.                                                                      

our little baby model.

Several weeks ago Evie was captured by the amazing Amanda Barnes Photography. Amanda recently began doing newborn posed shots and our sweet baby was lucky enough to model for her. I couldn't have been more pleased with how to photos turned out and could not rave more about the wonderful work that Amanda did. She was so loving and patient with Evie and made the session enjoyable for both of us. 

I may be a little biased but the pictures are beyond adorable! 

Evelyn's Arrival

Our sweet little girl entered the world on Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 11:46 am. She was quite the surprise as she arrived almost two weeks early.
On Wednesday morning I went to my weekly doctor's appointment and felt totally normal. However, once they checked my blood pressure it was significantly high, around 150. (and hadn't been in any weeks prior). My doctor debated on what to do and eventually decided to send me to triage at the hospital to get monitored and get some blood work done to check for preeclampsia. On my way out she said she expected my blood pressure to go down and that if that happened she would see me again on Friday and likely schedule an induction on Sunday.
I sat in triage for over an hour waiting on my blood work to return. While my blood work came back normal my blood pressure had continued to be high (174/109 at it's highest). My doctor came over, checked to see if I was dialed at all, which I wasn't. Again, she debated on what to do but decided that she wanted to admit me because she didn't feel comfortable sending me home with that high of blood pressure. She especially didn't want to do this as she was off the next day and suspected the baby would come and I would have to use another doctor. That being set aside she decided to give me some medication to help with dilation and once this was done planned on starting induction the next day.
I was wheeled to my room and shortly after started the dilation medication. That evening I started contracting regularly; however, not terribly strong. Sometime in the middle of the night I started labor on my own. By the next morning I was in ALOT of pain. The doctor on call did not want to give me my epidural yet because I was only slightly dialed. Once my water broke I insisted on an epidural and  suffered through that getting done in between crazy and painful contractions (I am not at all sure how someone goes through this naturally - that epidural was my saving grace!). It was not long after this that my nurse was in by my side asking me to switch positions every few minutes. This went from side to side with pillows placed in different places and at one time even on all fours (while totally numb...interesting). She finally disclosed that they were concerned about the baby and were attempting to get the baby to move. Every time I had a contraction the baby's heart was going down and they suspected that there was a cord issue. She said that it could be the baby was holding the cord or lying on the cord (never mentioned the cord being wrapped around the baby's neck...but I'm sure this was the major suspicion) and every time I contracted the cord was being squeezed. We continued with this for about an hour; one position would work for a contraction and then the next contraction the baby's heart rate would again decline. Several nurses came in and out as well as the doctor. My nurse told me that they were planning on having the NICU present at the birth to ensure that if anything should be wrong there would be people there to assist right away.
There was debate over stopping my contractions and even adding fluid back into me to attempt to give the baby more room to move around. However, after checking my dilation and determining that I was fully dilated and effaced they made the quick decision to get the baby out ASAP. People started flowing into the room preparing for the delivery...however, within seconds it seemed they changed their minds and started preparing for an emergency c-section. I later found out that this was decided after the baby's heart rate dropped to 60 during a contraction. It all happened so fast I had little time to prepare and next I knew was in the OR getting prepped. Coy joined shortly after and was luckily feeling less scared than he was in moments before when I was leaving my room.
The staff was AMAZING and talked me/us through each moment and everything they were doing preparing for the baby. Although I had started feeling completely out of it due to the drugs I was doing my best to stay alert for the baby's delivery.
The first thing I heard was the nurse's comment about the baby's hair. I asked for the gender and only had a wait a few more seconds for Coy to announce that it was a GIRL! I got to glimpse her quickly before she was taken to the side of the room for the NICU nurses to evaluate her. They determined that she was healthy and she was shortly brought to Coy to hold. I got to look at her in-between being in and out of consciousness but otherwise was not able to touch her...one of my least favorite aspects of having a c-section.
She was determined to be absolutely perfect...something i already knew : ) and I got to hold her/lay her on me as we were wheeled back to our room. It took several more hours before I was conscious enough to hold her on my own. I felt like it was even longer before I was alert enough to actually comprehend this beautiful, amazing being that was my daughter.
I was later informed that the baby had in fact had the cord wrapped tightly around her neck. The next day one of the nurses came in to see me and admitted that she and the rest of the nursing staff were a little scared by the whole situation...something I had wondered but would have never known due to their composure during chaos. The staff was absolutely AMAZING and I cannot speak highly enough about them. I had never even allowed the thought of a c-section to enter my mind during my pregnancy. In fact...each week Coy and I read a pregnancy book and had skipped over every section related to a c-section. However, in the moment I never questioned it for a second and just wanted this baby to come quick and safety.
This little baby was already a miracle and now we view her as a miracle times two. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on and am so thankful for all of the love and prayers that were sent in the years waiting for her arrival and in the days since her arrival.
We are so blessed.

Please welcome our new little love Evelyn Jean...born at 5 pounds, 14 ounces.