Adoption Day

Adoption Day!

September 24th is our Kennedy's special day-Adoption Day. This event occurred in 2004 at the courthouse in Louisville, Kentucky! It celebrates the day that she became legally and forever ours - although she always has been in our hearts. We celebrate this each year like a birthday. This year we were at Papa and Gigi's without Daddy, but we celebrated by going to the park and she got Disney Princess pajamas from Daddy and Mama. Kennedy is the heart of our family and as the big sister, she leads the pack! I know it is usually used in a romantic connotation, but Kennedy is my soul mate. We are a match and I'm so glad God brought us together. I cannot imagine my life without her and what she brings to it every day. We have always had a very special bond from the beginning. We are very close and I am so happy that she made me a Mama.

At last....
This date 2 years ago, September 15th, around 9:30 in the morning while living in Jackson, Tennessee, I took a pregnancy test and for the first time saw the positive result in the window. Yes, me! Un-pregnant-able me! After "trying" for about 7 years, we finally had our dream of a pregnancy come true. After 4 years of trying and 4 months of Clomid, invasive procedures on my part, such as a hysterosalpingogram, we attempted our 1st IUI-Intrauterine Insemination the end of December while living in Louisville, Kentucky. At the fertility clinic, we saw Dr. Nakajema -recommended by friends of ours from church-Jordan checked out (with flying colors) on his tests, and they couldn't seem to find anything specifically wrong with me, either. So, to us, it seemed a fail proof procedure. We were so excited. But, the insemination was not a success. So, we geared up, emotionally and financially to do it a second time in February. Due to the unexpected death of my little cousin, David, we traveled to Arkansas for the funeral and delayed the second attempt for the IUI until the end of March. Surely, this would be the one. Once again, we were beyond disappointed when we found out the 1st weekend of May it was unsuccessful, and actually began to wonder "what if we are never gonna be able to achieve a pregnancy?". Well, this blessing out of the clear blue sky came our way in June, our precious baby girl, Kennedy! All talk of pregnancy ceased-after seeing God's plan, we just wanted to see what He had in store for us next! She was such a dream come true, all dreams of becoming pregnant faded because I had the baby of my dreams. I stopped all medications and procedures. We just concentrated on loving our baby girl. Fast forward a few years to September and I had some abnormal bleeding and actually wondered if I had a miscarriage. The closest fertility clinic to Jackson was Memphis, so we traveled to see Dr. Ke. After a few visits and exams, he scheduled me for a 4 surgeries to be done at the same time in March. I had a D&C, laproscopy, hysteroscopy and a polypectomy done in Memphis as an outpatient. He wanted to follow up with me to discuss more inseminations or IVF. We had decided this wasn't something for us after we got Kennedy, we just wanted to wait and see what would happen-whether that meant another adoption, getting pregnant on our own, or not at all. I finally went back in August just to be examined after the surgeries. At that meeting he-the director of this fertility clinic-looked me dead in the eyes and said-It's just not going to happen. There is nothing wrong with either of you and after trying for 7 years, if it was going to happen, it just would've by now. Especially considering the 2 inseminations. Of course, this changed nothing, but having a specialist tell you this seemed so final. I bawled and grieved the whole way home. Jordan said-"It is not up to him!". But, my hope was gone. Of course, the very next month-guess what-WE WERE PREGNANT!!! Even seeing the test I couldn't accept it was true. We had to continue seeing Dr. Ke for the first 10 weeks, just for them to keep close tabs. And we started out with a great scare. The thrill of our first ultrasound was cut short when the ultrasound technologist looked and sounded worried with what she saw. Apparently there was a sac with no baby. We had to go back and wait for the doctor. We saw a different doctor that day and she came in the room shaking her head and looking very sad. She told us that the baby had stopped growing. Talk about a kick in the stomach-I remember thinking "How cruel". I actually asked if maybe I just wasn't as far along as we thought. She said "No". She told me I would probably pass the baby before my next visit, but if not, I would need a D&C. Talk about a horrible ride home. I grieved all night for this baby I felt like I finally just got. The morning brought a blessing beyond all of our hope-the blood or quads that were taken the day before had more than doubled which was proof of a living, growing baby. Praise God!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So, that is how we heard of our first and miraculous prenancy. Only 3 months later we found out it was a boy, which let us know our Jackson was finally on his way!!! So, it is God's decision to give a baby. We are convinced that his not giving us our pregnancy before was to give us our precious baby girl. Amazing that no other time before this was the polyp on my uterus detected that we later learned could have kept the egg from implanting resulting in a pregnancy. It was as if God placed it there, for us to get our girl first. Then it was able to be detected, removed, to give us our baby boy!!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

We took advantage of the nice weather and went to the zoo in Asheboro which is about an hour and a half away from our house Saturday and had so much fun we went back again on Sunday! Kennedy and Jackson loved the animals and playing at the zoo park. Chandler Grace pretty much slept the whole time! Our double stroller was a life savor!

We were all glad to take advantage of the nice weather.