The Other Side of Barrenness Part Two

Boy! What a hectic week this has been. Grace had two performances of her ballet recital last Saturday. Wed. thru Fri. has been intense practices. So if you've been wondering where I've been, there you have it! I have a lot of catching up to do with all of my blogging friends, but at least I'm back in the saddle again! This is a long one so grab your coffee and snack and more coffee if you need to!

Grace's class was the first to perform in the opening act of the full-length ballet performance of Coppelia. They were so cute and did excellent. All of their hard work paid off. Here she is in her tutu. When she put it on, she thought she was in heaven!

To top it off, Sunday was Grace's birthday. Happy Birthday my beautiful 7-year old! Lots of presents, friends over for a barbeque, tons of hugs and thank you's, and we crashed by 11! Fun time! But soooo tired!

No, she didn't sleep in her ballet costume...but she sure wanted to!

We were suckers to the media and bought Grace the 3-D chalk that's been advertised. You have to wear the funky 3-D glasses, but it does really work. Only you look like a nerd wearing them!

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And one more makes four (family of four, that is)!

In honor of Grace's birthday, I would like to continue my story about my journey through barreness. God is so faithful! (For any who haven't read part one, you can catch up here)...

I would love to say that, after having my first girl, I didn't have any trouble conceiving the second time around--but then there wouldn't be a part two, now would there?! I know in many times this is the case. Seems like once the childbearing ball gets rolling then you have a hard time stopping it! Not so with us.

So this story continues with that pesky word 'barrenness'! I won't go into detail, because then I'd just be repeating Part One. Same emotions, same anticipations, same letdowns. Only this time it took 12 and a half years. (You might ask why I don't round those years off? To a woman who has a hard time conceiving, every month counts.) But Part Two has a fun twist!

After so many years, we realized that Chelsie just might end up being our only child. And, you know what? we were ok with that. We raised her to the best of our ability. She wasn't 'spoiled' as sometimes is the case with only children. She had plenty of friends, so she wasn't necessarily lonely. She was just simply a joy to us. My concern was for her. She did want a...ahem...brother...(don't tell Grace)! And once in awhile she would ask me if we were going to have another child. So that alone would help us not to give up or let go of our faith. After all, God did it for us once, He could do it again!

The twist in this story was Chelsie's faith. She kept on believing, even when, at times, we felt like throwing in the towel. Not in a resentful way, but in an 'it's ok, life's good' kind of way.

Every Wednesday Chelsie would spend the afternoon at her best friend's house. When she was 12 and unbeknownst to us, by faith they began making little baby items--big bibs, little bibs, etc. She never told us. This went on for about six months or so. Then one evening, out of the clear blue she asked me, "Mom, do really think you'll ever get pregnant again?" She hadn't asked me that for a very long time. The awesome thing about her question was God's timing in it-- because I actually DID think I was, but it was too soon to get a test yet! So I was able to encourage her with "Oh, I'm sure one of these days, Chels!" Five days later, and appropriately, on Labor Day weekend 2000, I had a +plus+ on my pregnancy test! HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY AGAIN!

At home, on May 18, 2001 and after 13 and a half years, our Grace Marie was born. (By the way, Chels was not in the least disappointed with having a sister, she was ecstatic!) Grace was named after her Gramies and two Great Grandmothers. A couple of ironic tidbits of interest about both girls: I was eight days late with each of them, and they were both born at the same hour in the evening. Chels at 8:21 pm and Grace at 8:15 pm. However, the irony stops there! Other than a slight resemblence, they are two completely opposite sisters!

This is a long post, so I will have to continue later with a part three (maybe a four as well). I"d like to tell how we told Chels I was pregnant and the story behind the bibs!

It's all HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE MARIE Good!