And baby makes 5*

Big announcement, friends: We're pregnant!

Everyone said it would happen this way, but we really didn't think it would happen to us. And now we will be the family that you tell all your adoptive friends about, "We have these friends who adopted two kids...and now they are pregnant and have three in a year...." It's fine for you to tell that story, but I want you to know this really doesn't happen all the time to everyone who is adopting (but we are so glad it happened to us!). You hear about it because it is a fantastic story. And believe me, this is a fantastic story. I LOVE our story. Love it!

I love our story because we tried for 4 years to get pregnant and just never did. (We did some very basic fertility investigations and nothing showed up. We considered our options more than once and each time we just either didn't act or decided we wouldn't go down that road. We lived in a place of sometimes pain and sometimes acceptance at our situation, but always longing.)
I love our story because it is only a great God who could write this kind of adventure for us (three kids in 9 months time!!).
I love our story because Vaughn and Eloise are our first borns and they get to be the big brother and big sister. (P.S. They really are so excited about this!)
I love our story because due to our situation I hardly think about the baby and I know if I had gotten pregnant at any other time I for sure would have been a crazy-obsessive pregnant person and I kind of like that this child really is the third child. I mean, don't get me wrong- we are over the moon, but we're in the thick of parenting already and we don't have time or energy to use on the baby right now. As a side note, if you ask me something like "how far along are you?" I will probably give you some kind of vague answer because I am hardly keeping track. I might even say something like, "I'm far enough along that suddenly my pants really don't fit..." We're about 18-19 weeks as of today.
I love our story because "only God...."
I love our story because for years I have wanted to tell my parents they were going to be grandparents and when we came back from Africa, I got to do that in person and here is my mom's face (this is before she cried). My sweet stepfather saw the shirt (see Eloise above) lots of minutes before my mom did and he kind of looked at me quizzically and in a whispered tone said, "are you..?". I said, "yes!" in just as whispered of a tone and told him to tell mom to check out Eloise's shirt. It was such a fun, fun time and one that totally lived up to all the dreams I had about that moment!!

And finally, I love our story because I know you will tell all your friends this fantastic story about your friends who tried so hard to get pregnant and finally did just weeks before bringing home their two adopted kids :)

On an unrelated note: Nanny wanted!



*Alternate titles for this post:

• A funny thing happened on the way to Africa
• The post my mom has been waiting for
• Surprise!
• Baby on Board
• An Announcement from Eloise