Pure Joy

I can't even tell you how much excitement and pure joy I'm experiencing as a result of sharing our news with family and friends. Some have expressed complete shock about our adoption plans. The reason for this is because much of our struggle to have a child was kept very private. When dealing with infertility, emotions can be so raw, decisions so gut wrenching, and fear can be so crippling. Not just fear about whether you will ever have a biological child or experience parenthood, but also fear about being put into uncomfortable social situations.

For the most part, people who have known about our journey have been very loving and supportive, but there have been a few (mainly acquaintances and not friends on FB) that have said some doozies to us. Things like: "Who's fault is it that you can't get pregnant?" (FYI-we were diagnosed with Unexplained Infertility, so this is no one's "fault.") ; "Why don't you guys do such and such treatment, see doctor so and so?" (We saw some wonderful, knowledgable doctors) ; "I'm so fertile I just have to look at my husband." (Thanks for making me feel even less womanly); and "You can have my kid/s" (Wow, I can't believe that you take your child for granted and have the nerve to tell me about it). Comments like these would always send me in a tailspin, and eventually caused me to withdraw from social sitations involving unfamiliar people. Through this, God has taught us LOTS of patience, and God has provided me with more courage to venture out and more grace to handle hurtful comments.

If you know a couple who is struggling with infertility, the greatest thing you can do is listen to them, pray for them, and obviously use common sense! Now that you have a clearer understanding about why we kept much of our journey underwraps, I want to readdress that pure joy that I'm feeling. The best way that I can describe it-I feel a huge weight of secret pain has been lifted. I believe that God is moving behind the scenes. We are waiting for His best. We've been waiting a long time, but we know that when this journey ends with the embracement of our future child, it will have been more than worth it. We plan to give Him all the glory. (Romans 8:28)