Three Big Brothers? Becoming a reality!

We began this blog as a way to journal our adoption journey. Several months ago we felt God clearly closing all the doors that led to adoption. We were very saddened over this, but maybe even more than sad, confused as to why we have this desire in our hearts just to find that it is not for us. The best consolation I could find was that we are all adopted and given an absolute place in the Kingdom of Heaven even though we personally did nothing to “deserve” it. We are each chosen by the King Himself. I would love to say that we were able to choose all of our children because of the amazing qualities I see in each of them, but instead, God saw each of us and put our family together just as He saw fit. And I believe God saw deep into our hearts and knew how to fill the desires there! It is with greatest joy that I announce that my three sons are going to be BIG BROTHERS!! (Okay, so most of you are saying OLD NEWS. Well, that's because I wrote this before we had announced this but haven't made time to post!) As we enter into this fourth pregnancy we do so in a much different place than when we entered the first three. For one, we are not having three babies within the next 3 years, as far as we know! That alone will make this time a bit easier! And two, these three boys are amazingly helpful and independent. They are very excited and I can imagine they will be a great help. And for a third main difference, we are Army now and I have no idea where I will deliver this child. My best guess is somewhere in Germany!

Now, to tell you the fun story of how I shared the news with Matt: On Saturday, July 11^th Matt helped some friends move into a new home. I had the boys all day for a fun set of adventures, including the Olympic Training Center and Focus on the Family. After all that fun stuff the boys and I headed home. On the way I stopped at the Dollar store and purchased a pregnancy test (yes, they sell them and yes, they are accurate). I got the boys home and down for a nap and could barely wait to get that test taken. I have seen my share of negative tests so on some levels I expected it to be negative. When I saw the evaporation line go past where the “Positive” line would be I immediately wrote it off as another negative. I waited about 30 more seconds and checked back to see TWO BEAUTIFUL LINES!!

(Yes, I took a picture!) I couldn’t believe it! I had to re-read the package to make sure I was seeing the right thing and snapped that shot so I could prove it to myself and to Matt later. Let’s just say the next few hours of keeping my secret were quite difficult!

That evening we had planned on taking the boys to the Dollar Theater (do you see a recurring theme, here?) to watch Hannah Montana. Pretty cute movie, I must say! After we left there I had to twist Matt’s arm to go to Outback (okay, maybe he was easy to convince) for a Bloomin’ Onion and Salad meal. This is our cheap way to go out nice…we share an onion and salad. I gave Matt his gift which happened to be a baby girl’s bathing suit I had found at the Dollar store…theme continued!

The waiter witnessed this, but we were in our own world and didn’t realize this till later. Matt just grinned and I got some pictures, mostly of Matt with his eyes shut!

During the meal we found the waiter to be extra nice, bringing Matt an extra salad at no charge and then he brought the boys an ice cream sundae, again, at no charge.

It was not till later that we realized he had been there when Matt opened the present and had probably even noticed me taking pictures (who can miss the Nikon?!?). No wonder he was being so nice! On the way home I played a song I had downloaded for Matt. I think it’s called “King of the World,” by Point of Grace. From the point of a daughter telling her dad that if she is his princess he must be king of the world!

(These are of the boys at Outback!)

So let me say this regarding the gender of this child… J We both would really love to have a daughter. We have the privilege of raising three mighty men of God and would love the opportunity to raise a daughter of the King. However, we both know that there our chances are just about 52/48...52 girl/48 boy (and yes, I researched that!) so pretty much 50/50. And if we end up having a fourth son, we will count ourselves among the few who are blessed with 4-of-a-kind set of children and will accept the challenge of raising four amazing men!

As for names, I am intrigued by the always-present debate as to whether or not to tell people the names parents-to-be have selected. Some people are afraid others will either steal the names or express their dislike of them. Well, Matt and I really don’t care what others think so we will share the names we have picked out! Take ‘em if you want, but that won’t stop us from using them!! Like ‘em or not… but if the latter, feel free to keep that to yourself! J

So, to wrap this entry up, we will be moving to Germany* sometime in the winter and welcoming either Anna Caroline or Parker Madison into our family sometime in March! One interesting thing I am sure of is the due date: March 18^th, 2010! Bailey’s 6^th Birthday!

*See upcoming post.