In God's "Waiting Room" (Part 2: Journey into Parenthood)

When Jim and I got married nearly 15 years ago, in 1998, we both agreed we wanted four children - two boys and two girls, and in that specific order. I've always wished I'd had an older brother, so I wanted my children to have one...and of course, children must have siblings in the same gender to play with, especially close in age, so our next child must be another boy....also, a family is not complete until you have children in both genders, so next we'll have a girl...and so on went our dream. 

Well, things didn't quite happen as we had wished and hoped for.  In fact, we struggled with a life of infertlity for the first twelve years of our marriage. We struggled together as a couple, then secretly as individuals each going through the emotional and sometimes spiritual ups and downs at different times. Mostly it was a quiet and lonely struggle for us. We confided and found solace and support in friends going through similar pain, but in the end our true comforter and healer was our Father in Heaven. 

Then, as we found ourselves on the journey toward redemption from such pain and struggle, God "mysteriously" - but we believe providentially - gifted us with Eleanor in 2010.  I cannot fully explain what it is like to be given a gift you fully did not expect...it had taken a painstaking 12 years of searching, tweaking, and figuring out our life's purpose as a childless couple, and now we had to "shift gears" and literally figure everything out all over again...it was/is both scary and exciting. It felt  as though suddenly life came in full force and we are extremely grateful to God and we do not take anything for granted. 

In November of last year, 2012, we found ourselves pregnant for the second time! And thus began this season of our lives where we find ourselves, as Jim puts it, in "God's waiting room". 

(To be continued...)