God Answers Prayers

Psalm 127
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate."

This summer I started a bible study - Beth Moore- Psalms of Ascent. The above Psalm was what I was studying one night. This was a tough Psalm for me to study. Jeff and I have been struggling with infertility for over 2 years. I was diagnosed with PCOS (Poly cystic Ovary Syndrome) and the Drs. gave us about a 1% chance of conceiving children on our own.

Last summer, we started with one infertility specialists who said our only option was to do IVF. We paid the money and the Lord started working in our hearts. For some reason, He didn't give us a peace about doing IVF. It was the hardest thing to do, but we called the Dr. and got our money back.

We changed infertility specialists - one based in Charleston, SC that I would recommend to anyone. The new Dr. said we shouldn't jump into IVF and try another procedure first that was more natural. So we started the IUI process. In the course of several months, we did 4 IUI procedures - none of them worked. So our next medical option was IVF. Again, the Lord didn't not give us a peace about doing that. I prayed all the time for the Lord to allow us to that procedure - it was much cheaper than adoption (we have great insurance) and would be faster. But we never had that peace.

Jeff and I have been praying about returning to the mission field, so anytime we would start researching adoption, we worried that we would have to put going on the mission field on hold to complete the adoption process. Both international and domestic would take around 2 years. I had my heart set on getting an infant - not an older child. So I didn't want to do international adoption. These were very tough months as we prayed through what God wanted us to do. I struggled with my desire for an infant - was I being selfish, and not following God's will? Did he want us to adopt internationally? Was I holding onto something that wasn't God's will?

This summer, after getting back from Mexico - we decided that we would wholeheartedly pursue the adoption process. We had started the process back in January, but stopped to try more medical procedures. We decided to pursue domestic adoption in hopes of adopting a Hispanic baby. I found an organization in GA, that had a short wait time and a lot of their adoptions were Hispanic. But it was going to cost a lot more than going through SC. So our prayer was - do we be good stewards of our money and go with SC or do we be good stewards of our time and go through GA, and pray the Lord would provide financially? We had to make a decision quick because the agency in GA was having their first meeting on a Friday - July 18th.

So, on Tuesday the 15th - through lots of prayer - we decided that even though SC would be a 2 year wait, even longer for a Hispanic baby - we would not go to GA and get ourselves into more debt than necessary. It was yet another hard decision to make - waiting is so hard when going through infertility.

So Tuesday night, I read Psalm 127. As I read it, I prayed:

"Lord, build our house - give us children. Lord, give me sleep as I fill out all these applications (adoption and missions) - may my work not be in vain. Lord, please give me and Jeff a heritage. Why can't we have a reward of children? - something we want so badly. Lord fill our quiver with children!"

As I went to sleep that night, I had NO CLUE how quickly the Lord would answer my prayer.

The next morning, I woke up and decided to take a pregnancy test. I didn't even tell Jeff I was going to, because like all the 1,000 times before, I knew it would negative. So I peed on the stick and of course - one line - oh well - like always. A few minutes later I went back to check the test results again, because like all the times before - I just hope that the 2nd line will just pop-up. And this time - the 2nd line really did just pop-up.

I woke Jeff up, "Your not going to believe this - but there are two lines!" Jeff being dead asleep woke up and said, "What are you talking about?" Oh yea - I didn't tell him I was taking a pregnancy test. I said, "The Pregnancy test - there are two lines, I think that means I am pregnant!"

Jeff's response: "Call the Dr. - I don't believe it. The line is really light, I bet its wrong."

So I called my infertility specialist. They told me to come in immediately and they would do blood work.

Of course that day, I had to go into work to write some curriculum. I was having a hard time getting anything done! Around noon, I got a call from the Dr. office. (My cell phone doesn't get good signal in the school building, so I open and hang out the window to get signal.) The nurse tells me, "Congratulations your pregnant!!!"

It was still hard to believe even though I was going in every 3 days for blood work - and each time the numbers went up and looked good. It all became very real when we went to Charleston to have an ultrasound done. When we saw that heartbeat - then it was real!!!

God is an amazing God! When the Drs. only say 1% - God says - Not with me!!!!

So now, as I throw up every morning, I praise God for this miracle and say a prayer that everything will go ok.