Part 1
Rex and I traveled to Israel in February 1998. We had been married almost three years and were beginning to feel the itch to start a family. During this amazing trip of walking where Jesus walked, we were praying for confirmation as to when we should begin the next adventure of our lives - becoming parents. On the final days of our visit, we were sitting on the first century steps that lead up to the temple in Jerusalem and looking out past the city into the countryside. These were the actual steps Jesus had preached on and we were preparing to read the Psalms of Ascent. I was imagining all the people who had come every year, traveling to the temple for Passover. Our Bibles were open but I hadn't started reading yet when Rex grabbed my arm and pointed to the passage his eyes had fallen upon. It was Psalm 127: 3-5 "Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."
We knew right then and there God had answered our prayer and began trying for our family.
After about 9 months of trying on our own, things weren't happening and the OB/GYN tried for another 6 months or so. By this time it was spring 1999 so we sought the help of an infertility specialist. We did all the tests and procedures but were told they couldn't find anything wrong with either of us. Not what I wanted to hear. I wanted them to fix the problem so I could get my baby! We decided at that point to take medication and do IUI (aka insemination).
In June of that year we went on a mission trip to Brazil and fell completely in love with the people there. On that trip, we talked about once we had our own child maybe we would adopt the opposite of what we had from there. When we came home, on the 5th month of trying with IUI, in January 2000, we conceived and were overjoyed. The Lord however chose to take that baby home to be with Him six weeks later and one day, praise Him, we'll have a chance to hold that child we so desperately wanted to hold here.
After our miscarriage, we weren't going to give up and had another IUI two weeks before going back to Brazil on another mission trip to the same location in June 2000. Rex had to work this time and wasn't able to go with me. I was on post IUI medication and had to take more with me just in case the procedure worked. We both knew that the Friday before I came home we'd know one way or the other so for that whole week I was a nervous wreak! I took a pregnancy test on Friday morning and could hardly believe I was looking at a positive result! Nine months later Madeline Jireh was born.
When she was 2 1/2 we started trying for a second child. We started right where we had left off with doctor visits, medication and IUI. This time was a little harder and I had to have repeats of some diagnostic procedures and an additional surgery that wasn't needed the first go around. We weren't making any progress, things were going much slower this time, and we were told that we'd have to choose between going to the next level with in vitro fertilization, continuing to do what we had been trying or adopt. By this time it was April 2006.
That was a very difficult decision and I fought it for months until I was reminded about our first trip to Brazil and realized this was God's plan for our family. After attending informational meetings with adoption agencies and realized that Brazil was for the most part a closed country our next closest choice was Guatemala and we sent in our application on December 19, 2006.
