Click here for Part 1 or Part 2 of our Pregnancy Story!
On September 13, 2019, we brought our sweet baby boy home from India, and we are so grateful to celebrate 6 years of being parents and getting to be together as a family! This precious child filled the longing that I had to become a mother, and I recall that just a few short months after his homecoming we began to discuss growing our family again and looked forward to the idea of being able to give Aaro a sibling.
Here We Grow Again
As we sought the Lord’s will again for how He wanted to grow our family, we came to Him with hands and hearts open saying that we wanted what He wanted, so we asked Him to lead us to our next child. We were open to starting the foster process, adopting again, or seeking medical intervention should the Lord lead us. We also knew that at any point that He could naturally open my womb if it were His plan and purpose.
Many many months of seeking led us to take our next step of obedience: We knew that we were being called to adopt internationally again; and this time it was very specific — a little girl from the country of Thailand. We officially began the process with Holt International in August 2021.
Public Adoption Announcement, December 2021
We were told that the road ahead would be long - 3 years being the normal experience for families in process. We met every bump and barrier that you could possibly imagine along the way. These have been some of the most agonizing years of our lives, but every time it felt impossible, we would remind ourselves of the undeniable calling to this child and we were committed to seeing it through until we could bring her home - no matter what.
Prayers Are Seeds
Throughout our infertility journey, many kind and loving people have taken the time to pray over our family, over me and Steven, over our marriage, over our adoptions, and over my womb. In certain seasons - before we were in the process to get little Aaro and in between each adoption, the desire to get pregnant and have a biological child were at their strongest. But while IN each adoption process, your heart is growing for the child that you are matched with and you are already planning and dreaming and envisioning your lives together as a family. In most adoption agencies, there are policies built into your contract regarding pregnancy, and in our case - a pregnancy would cause the adoption to pause or be completely terminated. We never feared that this would happen to us, but as people continued to pray for us to get pregnant, I always thanked them and told them that I believed their prayers were an investment - like a seed - heard by the Lord and watered and would be answered and blossom in the season that they are supposed to; but in this season of waiting for our adopted child to join our family, our hearts are fully invested in that child. Truly there would be a very real grief and loss that we would face in the event that anything changed. I always like to share that for me and Steven, adoption was not a Plan B because we “couldn’t have our own children.” Adoption has been God’s Plan A for starting and growing our family, and the goal and sole desire has never been “to get pregnant” and then our dreams would come true. We had surrendered this to the Lord and felt content with whoever He wanted to bring into our family - biologically or grafted in.
We are so grateful that, as my womb has been closed, it has clearly been for His glory — He has allowed these two precious children to be grafted into our family over the last 6 years! And we stand amazed and in awe that, according to His marvelous timing and grace, He has chosen to open my womb for His glory this year— to bring this beautiful life into our family for such a time as this. And we believe that every single prayer for the Lord to give us a biological child was heard and answered and we are getting to walk in His faithfulness and perfectly planned timing NOW. What a blessing!
Our First Ultrasound
As we took off on a plane on Mother’s Day weekend, packed and headed to Bangkok, Thailand for three full weeks, I knew that my first check-up for growing Baby Link would not be able to happen until our return. I scheduled my first ultrasound appointment for about a week after we got home, and I will never forget the JOY and sweet RELIEF I felt as we got to hear 12 week Baby’s heartbeat and peak at the very first sights of HER at my first OB appointment!
We decided to wait until the 20 week anatomy scan to learn the gender of growing Baby Link. If there’s one thing we know how to do as we have endured long and grueling adoption processes - it’s how to wait. I knew that if I HAD to - I could wait until the baby was born to find out the gender! :) But I joked with Steven that I am not interested in anymore surprises right now, so finding out the gender at 20 weeks would give us plenty of time to prepare for this unexpected surprise in our year! It’s also a nice change to be able to know the gender of my child and to be able to plan clothing and sizes — which has not been a straightforward and simple opportunity in our 2 adoptions. I didn’t have accurate sizing for Olive Lidia even days leading up to our trip. It’s a huge blessing to be able to shop, plan, and register for baby girl clothing and items in the newborn stage! What an exciting new experience! Aaro was 16 months old when we brought him home from India, so that is the youngest age that we have parented so far! There are so many new experiences - beautiful, special, and intimidating that will come with this journey to child #3!
Carrying Two Daughters
Looking back at this summer and the simultaneous journey of welcoming our long-awaited 3 year old daughter and experiencing the first trimester + start of second trimester in our first ever pregnancy, it has truly been the most STRETCHING season of my life. (And yes, in every way possible!)
The emotions and the demands, the responsibilities, navigating new dynamics, learning how to be a mother to two children, struggling with a language barrier, toddler tantrums, the grief that comes with adoptee trauma and loss, two children learning how to each become siblings for the first time - and me becoming a referee in the height of their battles; the heat of summer and long days spent together with no childcare "allowed" as we protected our bond and attachment with our new child. The fatigue in my body, the emotions of hormones, the smells, the food, the sleep deprivation, the newness of so much at one time.
It has all been a whirlwind. Most days felt like too much. It was painful and challenging, lonely, and discouraging. But we have come so far. We have seen so much progress, so much growth, so much change. We celebrate how much more NORMAL things have come to feel. How adjusted Liddy is now. How much we have all settled into expectations, norms and routines. I emerge from summer and enter this fall season with a bit of a limp from the battles, but new levels of gratitude, as well. I haven’t always handled everything with grace, patience, kindness, or love — but I’ve grown a deeper well that I had to learn how to dig in the blaring heat of the summer.
"Autumn Gold" by Terrian
Breathe in
Don't hurry past the colors of the seasons
There's beauty in the tension that you're feelin'
It's the weight of the ebb and flow
So take heart, 'cause that's what makes the autumn gold
Woah
Oh
So take heart, 'cause that's what makes the autumn gold
Woah
Woah, yeah
Bumpdates
Here’s a look back at my growing baby bump beginning after we got home from Thailand! I started noticing the slightest bump begin around 10 weeks while in country, and I was trying hard to hide it for many weeks after that as we kept our news private and wanted to share with people after our first check-up and after introducing them to Olive Lidia. I felt so strongly about honoring her homecoming and journey home to us before we shared the next way God was moving in our family. It has been a lot to carry simultaneously, and I will forever have these ‘twin” girls that came into my life at the same time!
January 2025 Health Changes
We experienced a significant overhaul of our health and wellness in January of this year. I joke that raw milk was the “gateway” to so many other health decisions, but the reality is that there was truth revealed and a profound eye-opening that I walked through in regards to food, personal care, home products, and even clothing fibers. Much of my education came from Dr. Ben Edwards of Veritas Wellness, and his 4 Pillars of Wellness plus "You're the Cure” Podcast were instrumental in opening my eyes, changing my heart, and leading me to make such significant health and lifestyle changes. I found joy and fulfillment in making these shifts as I learned about non-toxic and clean alternatives to so many different items in our lives and home.
I’ll share a link below that lists many of the changes that we made starting in mid January 2025. I got pregnant for the first time in 14 years of marriage just a couple months later in March 2025. Even though we have always been active people and considered ourselves to be healthy, I believe that the Lord was leading us to significantly reduce our toxic load in ways that we didn’t even know about — and to give our bodies the best chance at a clean and healthy place to create life. We each made changes that are reflected on this list.
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