People blog for many different reasons.

I’d like to take some time and write a post about what I originally planned this blog to be and what it has become and what it will never be.

This blog was created on March 7, 2008. I find that date very ironic because if you know my story, you might remember that March 8, 2009, was the day God officially put us on the path of adoption and March 8, 2011, was the date that we first learned of our second daughter, although, at the time, we had no idea it was her.

So back to March 7, 2008. That was the day I wrote my first post for God’s Faithfulness Through Infertility. Our very first appointment with our RE was just a couple days later and we had been TTC for about 8 months.

I created this blog as a simple way to keep my close family and friends informed about what was going on with our fertility treatments.

I had absolutely no idea that in just a matter of months my blog would be read by people who were complete strangers living on the other side of the world. Looking back, I guess that is just how the internet works, but I had no idea that complete strangers would be interested in following along, and even praying for me, during some of my toughest and darkest days.

As my journey through infertility continued on, and I kept recording this journey through the words I would write and publish here, it became very apparent to me that my infertility was not about me.

Sure, I wanted to be pregnant more than anything in the whole entire world back in those days. I was so scared I’d never get to experience that, or worse, never become a mother – something I had dreamed of being since I was just a little girl myself.

But as I found myself on this journey it became very clear to me that more was going on here than just a couple who desired to get pregnant, were having difficulty, and were seeking medical help from a Reproductive Endocrinologist.

This wasn’t about me; it was about God. It was totally and fully and completely all about God.

I’d grown up in a Christian home. First time I attended church I was just three weeks old. I’d been taught the Bible since birth and I came to know my need for a Savior at the young age of eight-years-old. I knew in Romans 6:23 the Bible tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (meaning none of us measure up to God’s standard because of sin and someone has to pay the price for our sins). I believed that God had sent His Son as payment for my sins by death on the cross and then His resurrection three days later.

When I found myself on the road of infertility, that was my moment: I knew it was time to put into practice everything I knew and believed to be true about my Heavenly Father. It was time to truly trust Him with everything I had (and didn’t have and desperately wanted) and it was time to truly rely on His direction and HIS PLAN for my life because I had no clue what was going on and what was ahead.

It was time for me to live my faith and I didn’t realize it at the time, but God had plans for this blog, too.

What was just a simple way for me to keep family and friends informed became a platform for me to give God the glory for the things He was doing and was going to do.

You can’t take God out of the miraculous way He grew my family from two to four in just twenty-six months.

People don’t just “decide to adopt” and then have a baby in their arms just a couple of months later.

But it happened to me. Twice.

See? My infertility was so not about me!

It was, and still is, all about God.

Choosing to believe in the promises of God found in His Word and choosing to trust in Jesus in your darkest hour and then seeing God unfold His beautiful, perfect plan for your life right before your very eyes, is something I hope every single person who has ever stumbled across this blog takes with them when they leave my little corner of the internet.

It’s why I’ve left this blog open long after the infertility treatments were done. We are obviously not going through any infertility treatments, now, (or ever again!!) so I don’t need this blog to keep people informed, but God is still using my story to bring glory to His name and as long as that is happening, this blog will be here.

I’ve been told there are ways I could increase my readership and possibly even make money off this blog, but that is something you will never see happen with my blog.

I don’t want adds popping up on my blog. And I don’t want this to become a “chore” and something I “have to do”. Keeping this blog up now is not “work” for me and I never want it to be that way.

Since the birth of my daughters, I see this blog as a resource that is out there for people to find who are suffering through infertility or possibly considering adoption. If you Google “god and infertility” or “trusting God through infertility” my blog comes up.

And for me, that’s where it is at.

I cannot tell you how many people have contacted me via my blog simply looking for encouragement as they too find themselves on the road of infertility that I was on just several years ago. I love being contacted that way. It is one of the ways God has opened the door for me to minister to people who are hurting because of infertility.

Most recently, my blog has become more of a “scrapbook of memories” for me to one day cherish when my daughters are grown and going off to college. Obviously, I am careful with what I do share since my blog is open to the world, but my blog is a very accurate script of my life right now, as a mother, to two precious little girls.

I was an avid scrapbooker during high school and college, but once I started teaching, I just didn’t have the time for making scrapbooks because I would hand-make every single page!

Then I did pick up scrapbooking again after Little Bug was born and I managed to scrapbook (hand making every page!) Little Bug’s first year. I finished her scrapbook just weeks before Sweet Pea’s birth. So, I think it is obvious that scrapbooking the handmade way wasn’t working for me in motherhood, either! So now, my blog has become my scrapbook.

Right now, I have 2-3 hours per day when both girls are asleep and that leaves me plenty of time for blogging, among other things. Because of my future plans with my daughters and the fact that “naptime” is a season that will be gone at some point, I know my blogging time will decrease in the future and my posts may have to become less frequent.

But, I do love blogging because I love writing. (Writing truly is the best way I process things.) I don’t see God’s Faithfulness Through Infertility being “shut down” anytime soon! I’ll be hanging out here for anyone who just needs some encouragement, advice, prayers or even just a shoulder to cry on.

And, I will continue living life being what I always wanted to be: a mother.

The majority of my posts nowadays are about my role as “mother” since that is where life has me, right now. I will continue to write posts about life as a mother, parenting and teaching Little Bug which is something I am extremely passionate about! Heads Up: Learning Time posts are about to increase!

The foundation of this blog is infertility and adoption, so posts on those topics will still be written in the future, I am sure. Those topics are forever near and dear to my heart and I do plan to blog as much as is appropriate about Little Bug, and eventually Sweet Pea, discovering their own adoption stories.

And, who knows? Will there be a third adoption journey for you to follow? I honestly do not know the answer to that question. A third child is something we are just not sure about, but we are absolutely certain that if there is a third child for our family, God will stir our hearts and we will follow where He leads. And, of course, I will blog about that journey, too!

And that is the history and future of this blog and The Way I See My Blog all wrapped up in one post!

- Elaine