We were packing to leave for China late into the night and into early Father's Day morning. As I went through our list, I realized that I should probably take a pregnancy test. Nathan was sitting in the kitchen working on travel details. It was like 1:30 am. I quietly took the test, stared at the test, and really was not sure if I could see a second line. I gave it a couple of minutes (not sure how long it really was because I was shaking so hard). Then I finally grabbed an index card and wrote "I love you! Happy Father's Day! (I think)," meaning "I think I'm pregnant, but I'm not sure."
I walked into the kitchen and handed it to him, and we both stared at it a little in shock. I asked him if he thought it was positive, and he said it was definitely positive. I said "Well I guess we'll come home from China a family of five!" And we cried happy tears. We decided immediately to wait and share because Daniel's coming home was so important to us. We wanted to fully savor every moment of him joining our family.
In all of our family pictures I thought "We're all together, and this is so perfect." And then by about 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon I was physically and emotionally done and practically (or literally) in tears. It was sweet, beautiful, exhausting, scary all at the same time. The touring is something that we will never regret. It was worth the hard napless afternoons and crying babies (and sometimes crying mommy...poor Nathan). One of these days I'm going to post about our trip to China, pictures and all. It will be a big one so I'll need some time...and perhaps a babysitter ;).
Nathan is my hero. He is such an awesome Dad. I loved seeing both boys interact with him and thought it was perfect we found out about baby #3 on his day. This is us at the Great Wall. We bailed climbing to the top and ate ice cream at the bottom instead, which was awesome. A friend of ours on our team took much better pictures of us while there but like I said, I haven't gotten everything together to post the good pictures. I hope to soon. This picture was taken just before Joshua received an epic goose egg right in the middle of his four head. Nathan told him that not every little boy has a scar from the Great Wall and that it's pretty special. But purchasing him a Panda bear is what calmed him down. We bought three bears. ;)
And finally last Tuesday we were able to see this little one for the first time! We were going to try to surprise everyone at the boys (late) second birthday party next month, but I'm showing enough to look awkward in my clothes. So we decided that we'd surprise family by sending them a video of the ultrasound. Baby was dancing around and we could see the heartbeat. Daniel had his PT evaluation in the hospital where my OB is also located. (His eval. went well and I'd love to post about that later). We had been texting our moms about Daniel's evaluation. Then we traveled one floor down for baby's ultrasound and sent our family a text with a video letting them know that this little one had an appointment today too. There were lots of exciting conversations that followed for the rest of the afternoon.
Baby is due February 22. It's a special time to be born. We found out lots of people we love share that birthday. Cousins, close friends, and the person who (with my mom) explained the Gospel to me: Boppie (my grandmother). Boppie went to be with Jesus 11 years ago. It would be so awesome if Baby was born on her birthday.
And because it was Boppie's favorite hymn and because the lyrics make me think of new life, I've had this song on my mind. I pray our children's "birth" into our family is just the beginning of their story. Just like I was born again and adopted into the family of God in 1989 because of my family's witness, I pray that our children will be born again into His family.
Hymn of Promise by Natalie Sleeth
In a bulb there is a flower; in a seed an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there's a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
There's a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There's a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something yet unknown which God alone can see.
No comments:
Post a Comment