Big News

Well, I debated about posting this, but the reality is, it was a part of our lives for 2 months. And Ellison looks so darn cute, I don't want to exclude these photos of her. :-)

[February 7, 2010]

We had planned on waiting to make the announcement, but also said we weren't going to lie about it if people asked - and several people were asking, since it's fairly common knowledge we've been wanting to expand our family over this past year. Well, more and more people were finding out, and it was often being discussed in front of Ellison's ears, and soon more friends than family knew about it, so we decided to just let it out there. We also didn't want Ellison to be hearing about it without us talking to her about it, and we figured we'd be able to tell her in simple style if the pregnancy didn't continue. Little did we know that'd come to fruition.

When we told Ellison that she was going to be a big sister, she got the hugest grin on her face. She, completely on her own, would randomly pray to God for a big sister or brother to play with, and other times pray that God would give us a baby. So she was excited to think there was a baby in my tummy, and she said immediately that she would like a baby sister. Then she whispered in my ear and asked me if she could help change the baby's diapers. It was so precious. She soon started announcing to people, "I have some big news!".

We emailed the first pic above to our family and distant friends, which was fun. Then, that evening Ellison wore the shirt to the Superbowl Party we had at the Schwankes, where our good friends got in on the news.

Though we had friends offer to watch Ellison while we had our ultrasounds, it didn't work out to do that, so we took her with us. We told her we were going to see if the baby was growing, and possibly see the baby's heartbeat. For the first ultrasound, Ellison kept asking, "Is that the baby's heartbeat?". We weren't getting fabulous news during the first one, so that was hard. Afterwards, we simply explained that the baby might not be growing. For the second ultrasound, she asked, "Is that the baby's eye?" So sweet... At that point, we knew the pregnancy wasn't progressing, so we told her the baby didn't grow, and maybe someday God would give us a baby that would grow. She took that and completely accepted it. The other day, in the van she just announced out of the blue, "I'm going to talk to God. God, please, please, please give us a baby that will grow. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Ironically, can you believe the first time I had a miscarriage (before Ellison), I started miscarrying exactly 4 years before TO THE DAY that we found out for sure this pregnancy wasn't going to happen?! That's crazy. I guess my uterus doesn't like February. I don't either now.

Through this all, God has shown me what AMAZING friends and family we have through this all. We have been so loved on, so prayed for, and we are so very grateful.

It is our prayer that Ellison gets to have a sibling, but we trust God and His good plan. We know where we'd like to go, but thank God He has the steering wheel. Come what may, we know God will bring about good from every single trial we have, even if we cannot see that good from the spot we're in.