Merry Christmas!

2009 is the year of Something More for Us

During the month of December 2008, after four failed infertility treatments and a surgery for Elaine we prayed for a Christmas Miracle. God most certainly gave us a Christmas Miracle that month, and it wasn't in the form of achieving pregnancy. God opened our hearts to adoption! Months later, we would also learn that December 2008 was also the month that Little Bug’s birth mother contacted the adoption agency. Yes, God most certainly was at work in our lives last December and this was only the start of the miracles He was about to perform!

On January 10th, 2009, we went to visit some friends from church who had recently adopted a baby. We went to their home desiring to learn more about the adoption process. When we left their home that night we both felt confident that we would one day adopt a baby. That night a poem popped into Elaine's head and she wrote it down:

Our miracle has come
Not in my womb, but in our hearts
We are going to adopt!
Baby is on the way,
She will be here in the month of May!

We felt God was leading us to take the last step in the world of infertility treatments and we had high hopes that our upcoming in-vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle would give us a chance at having at least one biological child.

In February we had our IVF consult appointment with our doctor. Everything was on go to begin the IVF cycle starting February 28th.

On March 8th, after an extremely poor response to the IVF meds, we learned that a pregnancy wasn't likely for us. Our IVF cycle was canceled and our dreams were shattered. Towards the end of March, Elaine felt God was asking her to surrender her desire for pregnancy to Him and to pursue adoption immediately. God also worked on Dave's heart and he too felt like God was leading us to adopt. We began filling out the adoption application paperwork.

On April 9th, Elaine walked into the agency to turn in the adoption paperwork. The lawyer told her on that very day, "There is a baby girl to be born in June. You can have her if you want her!" We later learned that Little Bug’s birth mother had already chosen a family for her baby, but that family was not able to meet all the requirements necessary to adopt. That family pulled out of their commitment to adopt Little Bug the very same week we turned in our adoption paperwork!

On May 27th, forty-eight days after Elaine walked into the lawyer's office, Little Bug was born! She was born at 7:11 AM and weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces. She was 17.5 inches long. Eighty-one hours after Little Bug’s birth, the birth mother signed a consent to terminate her parental rights.

On September 1st we went to our court hearing and Little Bug legally became our daughter even though, in our hearts, she was ours from the moment we first laid eyes on her in the delivery room.

It is always interesting to step back and look at the big picture of a trial once you are on the other side. We can now see that through the pain and tears of month after month of negative pregnancy tests, God was setting the stage to perform a miracle.

In His time, He revealed His perfect plan to us and gave us Something More than our hearts could even imagine.

God gave us our precious daughter, Little Bug, through the miracle of adoption!

God's plan for our lives may not always be what we would plan for ourselves but God's Plan is ALWAYS bigger and better than anything we can plan for ourselves!

As the year 2010 approaches, we encourage you to keep this verse close to your heart:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to bring you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Dave, Elaine and Little Bug

- Elaine