An anniversary to remember...

This year, July 31st was not just another anniversary for us. Yes, it was our 10 year anniversary, but we also learned that we were expecting our third child!

With each of our children, I have told Brad a bit differently. With Sammy, we had been trying for over 6 months, and when I got my period month after month after month, it was really discouraging.

But on February 14, 2005, while I was busy teaching a bunch of 7th graders, I just KNEW I was pregnant. I drove home after school, took a test, and SCREAMED! Then I planned how I was going to tell Brad.

I drove quickly to his office at church and as soon as I got there, I put on my "academy award winning" performance, and told him I had taken another test...and that it was negative...again...and that I was so upset...again...

Then, after he comforted me, I handed him the test.

He looked at me. He looked at the test. He looked at me again. And looked at the test. And said:

"Wait, doesn't 2 lines mean we're pregnant?"

The look on his face was priceless!

We were ECSTATIC to finally be pregnant after almost 6 years of marriage! That night we celebrated by eating a heart shaped pizza from the Green Mill and by writing down potential names for our new baby.


When we were trying for Caleb, we decided to take the test together. Brad was leaving the very next morning for a weekend in Detroit to plan out a missions trip there the following summer. We knew that if I was pregnant, Caleb would be arriving smack dab in the middle of the trip. We decided that if I was pregnant, the other pastors and staff members needed to know so they wouldn't plan on him leading the 2 week trip.

Because...

I WAS not going to be a single mother of a newborn and a 21 month old for two weeks!

Good choice, right!


With this pregnancy, we had talked and prayed about it for months. We knew we wanted to wait to make any decisions about having another child until after I finished grad school last May. I had felt for MONTHS that our family was not yet complete and that I wanted to try for another baby. Brad wasn't convinced.

It always takes our husbands a bit longer to catch on sometimes, doesn't it!

So, each week during our Sabbath Rest time, I continued to pray about it and also prayed that God would make it clear to both of us what He wanted us to do.

Deciding whether to have more children (or any children for that matter) is a HUGE commitment...one that shouldn't be taken lightly. We had a lot to consider...the age differences between Sammy and Caleb and a new baby...what it would mean to go through the "baby phase" again...realizing that it would be even longer before I would return to the classroom full time...thinking about how much another baby would cost or even if we had the time and energy to pour into another child because of our life in full time ministry.

But God made it clear to both of us, to keep adding to our family and that HE would provide all we would need for this new child.

So, in the early morning hours of our anniversary, I got up and took a test.

(Again, I ALREADY knew I was pregnant before I took the test...we just know, don't we!)

I made a very quick card, and placed it by Brad's sink in the bathroom.

And sneaked back to bed.

When he woke up and went to the bathroom, this is what he found:


and...


It was a super fun way to tell him, and it made our anniversary date that evening even more special.

And, I think April 9th is a GREAT day to have a baby!