Updates: A Comedy in 3 Acts

Act 3: God Still Laughs

(BUT FIRST, A BRAGGADOCIOS SIDE NOTE)
Before I launch into this post, I need to brag on my baby boy. Again. He is 13 months old now and I somehow missed this big parenting tip that you are NEVER supposed to give whole milk in a bottle. That is supposed to only be a sippy cup thing. Formula and breastmilk go in bottles. Big boy whole milk goes in sippy cups. I missed the boat. I didn't read enough of my tips for everything in the world parenting e-mails that I get. I must have been too preoccupied with other things. So I have dreaded the switch to a sippy cup only existence. I decided to wait until spring break so that our babysitters don't have to bear the brunt of Isaac's frustration. So on Monday, we started the day with a sippy instead of a bottle. He hated it for the most part, but at naptime, he took his sippy like a champ without so much as a whimper. The evening bottle was uneventfully changed to a bottle with no complaining, and the dreaded night-night bottle was changed to a sippy with daddy and a little boy who drifted right to sleep. It was so easy! I have been praying about the transition since I knew it was coming soon and God just let him accept it so easily. He's such a good kid.

But even more exciting on Monday: HE WALKED! My baby took his first steps. Ryland and I were sitting on the couches, we looked over to see Isaac standing in the middle of the room smiling with no help. So being the big goofballs we are, we both started crying and spent the rest of the evening trying to get him to walk in between us. He did sometimes, but it had to be his idea. 2 milestones in a day. It's like he grew so much in 24 hours. We both work full time and both feel like we miss so much, so witnessing this miraculous first together was a gift from God. But in His grace and goodness, he let us both see it. And we will never forget it.

(THE REAL POST)

As my long-time blog followers know. I started this blog in 2008 to chronicle what I thought was going to be an adoption story, and the story of my struggle with infertility. But as I poured out my heart in text, God changed my course and blessed me with my biological son and made me happier than I ever thought I could be, while giving me a ministry to other women who were living the same things that I was. It also allowed me to heal and grieve the loss of my Aunt Karla and my three precious glory babies. I have been able to chronicle some of the most special times of my life and my sweet hubby has preserved them for me in a book that will be a legacy and a keepsake for my children. But my story is far from over.

Because I am pregnant again.

I am morning sickness, clothes too tight, giddy, ecstatic, pregnant.

At the end of last year my overly planning, control freak, too small faith side, started worrying. What if it takes another three years to have another baby? What if I can't ever have another baby? What if we lose more babies? What if it doesn't happen until after I turn 30 and my risk factors go up?

Have I learned NOTHING? God is so much bigger than all of that stuff. I should know that by now.

Ryland and I began to pray about how God would grow our family and if He would grow our family. We told him that our heart's desire was to have more children but that we trusted that He knew best for us. We felt that God had showed us that it was okay for us to begin trying. We decided that we would begin trying in January 2010.

On Ryland's birthday on February 6, after a long birthday party day, we came home and I took a positive pregnancy test. He didn't know that I was taking it. He was unloading the car. I came out of the bathroom and handed it to him saying, "happy birthday, daddy". We were overjoyed and completely shocked at how easy it was! I think I am healed.

I shared a LONG time ago in a previous post about the time that God gave me the passage in 2 Kings about the Shunnemite women who served Elisha and God gave her a son in a year's time. God spoke clearly to me then and that is when I really knew in my heart that our son was coming. Well, the God of no coincidences, put that very passage into our Sunday School lesson. I have never heard that passage preached on or spoken on in church, ever. It was divine confirmation that this pregnancy was a keeper and I didn't need to waste any time being scared of a miscarriage or anything else. God had already done the hard work. My job was just to bask in the blessing.

So as of today, I am 9 weeks pregnant. My sweet little tator tot has shown us its heartbeat twice. It is about an inch long and has arms and legs. I have been extremely sick, but not as sick as I was with Isaac. Very different sick. My projected due date is October 20. A week before my birthday. Ryland laughed and thinks it serves me right to have to share my birthday month with Tator since he has to share his with Isaac. And to help out my math conscious friends, my kids will be 20 and 1/2 months apart. I would have chosen to space them out farther than that, but God has always been much better at working those thing out so I think I'll trust him there too. But I might kick you if you make a comment such as "Wow, two under two" or "Two in diapers!". Just a warning.

So as you can see, my cup is full right now. We are praying for our house to sale, our upcoming move, and that God will carefully and perfectly form our new Tator Tot. It is all so far from over. And as I look forward with hope, resting in God's care, I can almost hear quiet laughter. God is still working. And I am joyfully anticipating the outcome.

Mindy