Friends, I have been so blown away by God’s goodness over these last few days! I can not even think of words that would begin to explain how grateful we are for your generous gifts and contributions toward our remaining funds and your support toward our first raffle. I’m so excited about the remaining raffles for cookies.
I’m thrilled to be able to share with you this story you’re about to read. The verse at the top of this blog is a very familiar one, and it’s often one of the most cliche ones someone hears as a word of encouragement when they are faced with a circumstance that requires much prayer. I have never experienced something pertaining so well to this verse as I did Thursday and Friday of last week. I’m going to give you a little back story first though.
In 2012 I had just moved back from New Orleans and started going back to school for my PTA degree. I was not in a great place spiritually, physically, or emotionally. I was going through a lot of things on a personal level but that didn’t stop one of my teachers at the time from offering the invitation to check her church out. My family had been visiting this church for a little bit so I decided to check it out for myself and I got plugged into a
B-Group (Sunday school class) for young professionals pretty quickly. My first day in class I remember walking in and one of the first people I saw was this cute boy in a black button up shirt and khakis with dirty blonde hair and a bright smile and a pretty quirky/charming personality. Something told me at that moment he would play a pretty big role in my life. I didn’t know how though because he had a girlfriend and I had a boyfriend, but several months down the road we both found ourselves single and what started out as a friendship quickly become more than that and within a year we were married (April 12, 2014)! That first year at Broadmoor brought me so much more than a future husband though. God used the Word at Broadmoor to help me finally feel forgiven for my past, to have a hope for the future, and to start a true walk with the Lord.
Fast forward to October 2014…Danny and I were moving back to Bossier and in the market for a house. We had never bought a house before and had no idea what to expect. We looked at several but none just pulled at our hearts. I can remember pulling into the driveway of our current house for the first time and immediately I said, “Oh now that’s pretty.” I just had a feeling. After doing a walkthrough and talking over a lot of details we decided to put an offer on it. We were hopeful at first but knew the family selling the house had turned away several offers already because their expectations were not being met. I’m sure I’ll understand that more when we decide to sell one day. We were disheartened to find out our offer had been denied. Instead of getting too upset we immediately began searching the internet for other places. I contacted our realtor multiple times with other locations, but to our surprise a couple days later the family reached out to our realtor and changed their minds and decided to accept our offer. We were now going to officially be home owners!
Fast forward another 3 years. Danny and I were still attending Broadmoor, only now we were in a married couples B group, and we were one of the few couples who did not have children. We began to suspect we would have difficulty as you’ve read in previous blogs. But, God was gracious and blessed us with our beautiful Sara Grace!
One of the very first people I told I was expecting was a sweet friend who happened to also be in our B-Group, but also lived directly behind us! The very same day I told her, actually within a couple hours, she showed up on my doorstep with a gift bag of thoughtful things such as mother’s milk tea, some gender neutral footed PJs, some Burt’s bees belly cream, and a card from her and her husband expressing their excitement for us and with several Bible verses for encouragement. I still have that card and pulled it out of my closet last night to remember such a special time and give thanks to God for people in our lives that care so much for us and walk with us in our valleys and mountains.
Thursday I posted our first official raffle. I’m a results right now kind of person, another reason infertility has been soooo hard for me to battle. Early in the day I was doubting whether I should have initiated the raffle because there was a somewhat slow response. And I get all up in my feels worrying about what other people are thinking of me, and this whole situation. But then all kinds of people started giving us donations for the raffle and sharing our post and it became more and more encouraging to see the response.
The same evening of our first raffle post this sweet friend contacted me to let me know she and her husband would like to help us. They often talk about mine and Danny’s story, and within the last year they had received funds to assist them during a very difficult season of loss with the passing of their daughter. They had agreed it never felt right to use those funds for themselves and wanted to assist other couples going through the adoption process or something similar as a way to honor their little one. Before she could even get all the words out of her mouth I was legitimately ugly crying, not only out of thankfulness, but knowing what this couple has gone through in seasons of grief concerning loss, but still allowing God to do a glorious work and use the life of their little one to bring Him glory and serve others. In the card this precious couple gave us for our expecting news the husband’s words said “I pray you will use this testimony to always bring glory to God.” Those words still ring true and they are the truest examples of people who bring glory to God even in the midst of suffering. I am so blessed by their love and continual example of people who fully trust God in all circumstances. And I can not ever begin to thank them enough for allowing their daughter’s life to continue as a celebration in ours.
I included the story about me and Danny attending Broadmoor and choosing our home, because after I got of the phone with that friend it just began to really sink in that God was at work in all of this with our meeting at Broadmoor, and with this couple and to be more deeply connected by the proximity of our homes and also be at Broadmoor. Something 6 years ago he was orchestrating knowing they would be a blessing to us in so many ways in this present time.
Not ten minutes after I got off that phone call, I was lying in bed and decided to check my emails as I generally do each night. I had been getting several paypal notifications through the day for raffle purchases. A new notification caught my eye as it was an extremely generous gift, and when I opened my email I noticed it was from a COMPLETE STRANGER! Someone I had never met a day in my life had come across our story thanks to a friend’s posting and read my blog, and felt blessed enough by it to bless us in return with a gift. She too has been going through the IVF process so I am now able to return the favor of prayer.
Here’s where the even more amazing part of this story comes into play! The next morning I had my appointment at he clinic for IVF labs, another hydroultrasound, and mock transfer. We were supposed to have our financial consult but they had not contacted insurance yet so we did not have the official consult. However, because I know our insurance policy like the back of my hand, they were able to give us a financial sheet with the total cost of the IVF process, and let us know there could be some other things that add to it, but the general break down with our coverage would be a 10% portion. That total was almost to the EXACT dollar amount that those two big gifts the night before equalled. I ugly cried all over again. I had not even asked God for a specific amount yet, but He knew, and He provided! “For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
I am so thankful for this testimony He has blessed us with. I read an article yesterday about the difference between delivering grace and sustaining grace. We have not reached our moment of delivering grace with an answer to prayer for another child, but oh how sweet His sustaining grace has been through the efforts of friends like you! When we get delivering grace we can sometimes go right back to the monotony of our lives and toward more independence from God, but when He provides sustaining grace through long seasons of trials He allows us to see His mercy through the days and years bringing us ultimately closer to Him.
In the list of verses our friends included in that card, the last one was Romans 8:28,
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
This isn’t always easy to understand when you’re in the midst of a grieving season, or a season of trial and waiting, but on the other side of delivering/sustaining grace it is such a beautiful truth to be reminded of.
We are currently STILL waiting on our specialty pharmacy to get it together and contact me for delivery setup and payment of medications. It has been almost a two week process so far, and I am trying not to panic as I’m supposed to begin a new medication next week. So, I need those meds ASAP! I only have 11 days of birth control left, then I will begin lupron injections to suppress ovulation after I’m off the birth control. 03/15 I begin gonadotropins again to stimulate the ovaries to grow lots of follicles and eggs. Egg retrieval is still tentatively scheduled for last week of March, and if we have viable embryos we will plan for a fresh 5 day transfer. At our IVF consult Dr. V helped me talk through the specifics of genetic testing, and we have opted out of doing that, and he definitely helped me become more confident with that decision. I think that decision has helped me have less anxiety about the whole process. I’ve been doing acupuncture for the last couple of weeks and will continue that till the day of transfer. It helps me improve blood circulation and allows the uterus to relax on the day of transfer. If you’ve never gotten acupuncture I highly recommend it! It helps me relax more than some of the best massages I’ve ever had.
Our next raffle will be for Easter cookies. Due to a high interest in purchasing them I’ve decided to offer a LIMITED number for sale and I will also be able to ship them. I will still be doing a raffle as well in case anyone misses out on the for sale number.
I’m only offering a limited number, as the week of Easter is likely the week after we find out if our IVF transfer was successful or not, so either way I will likely be in an emotional state.
I will also be raffling unicorn, pineapple, and rainbow cookies sometime soon.
We thank you all for your generosity and support and prayers! We are so thankful God put each and every one of of you in our story!
Making a Myers 