My Extended Profile


I am a woman just like any other striving to be a Proverbs 31/Titus 2 woman and I take this calling very seriously to make my home and family happy and prosperous. I believe that the most important job a woman can have is to be, “A Keeper of the Home”. My husband and I have been attending New Life for 11 years this July ‘08 and we have 3 children. I am actively involved on the committee for the Ladies Day of Renewal and have been from its beginning. When not being a Keeper of the Home I am the Secretary to the Pastor and Treasurer of New Life Church. I also teach Sunday School to the Toddlers and Pre-K’ers, help out with NLC’s Wednesday night Children’s Ministry Train 226 (Prov 22:6), and am currently the editor of the quarterly women’s newsletter.

I was born in Virginia on the Peninsula to my Momma (professional homemaker) and Dad (retired Air Force) in 1974. My parents will be married 36 July 3, 2008. Due to being an Air Force kid I have lived in many states in the US as well as Hahn Air Base in the Hunsruck in Germany, close to Lautzenhausen. I have traveled to many places and experienced many wonderful events.

I graduated from Ocean Springs High School located in Ocean Springs, Mississippi in 1992 and attended Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, Lousisiana.

I moved to Ohio in February 2, 1997 and met my future husband on Valentine’s Day. We started dating the next week (which is the same week I rededicated my life to the Lord) and he asked me to marry him at the altar with our former Pastor Sunday morning, March 15th. We set the wedding date for July but decided not to wait and had a church wedding on April 19, 1997. It has been 12 years (Feb '97) that I've been saved and 12 years (April '97) that my husband and I celebrate 12 wonderful years of marriage.

On to having children: We didn’t try and didn’t prevent getting pregnant but decided we would let God lead. So for about 3-4 years we did not get pregnant and decided to see a fertility doctor. This doctor diagnosed me with Endometriosis (via laparoscopy) and with PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome). These are each a cause for infertility and when you put the two together it makes it even more difficult to become pregnant. For about a year we continued to see this doctor but then decided to move on to a more experienced Endocrinologist in a nearby city. So after about 2 more years and various exams, meds and insurance running out we decided to put this all on hold and see where God would lead us next.

At this point hubby and I decided we need to just stop and wait on God. During this time God spoke to me in prayer with a scripture, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

So we started praying AND fasting asking God what the next step might be and started thinking about adoption. We wanted a baby but we didn't think it smart to go into debt due to the extreme cost of infertility treatments and then there was the cost of adoption and more waiting also. So during this time of prayer and fasting (it was only about a month into the process) to help take some stress away I wanted to surprise my husband with a small date. Unbeknownst to him I was offered free tickets from a friend. The tickets were to see Steven Curtis Chapman (he is the singer to the new big hit song Cinderella) as he was coming "home" (his wife is from Springfield) and he was going to do a little concert locally. I thought it would be nice for me and hubby and some others from church to go. So I "took" hubby to dinner and then we went to the concert (he does not care too well for surprises but he took it well).

Well we showed up to the concert and sat down (it was at a local church so there was not a whole bunch of people (maybe around 200+ people). We sat down and started looking around and saw a lot of posters saying "Shaohannah's Hope" with a picture of cute little Chinese girl. We knew nothing of what this was all about so waited with anticipation. Well it didn't take long until we knew that it was about adoption. Hubby and I looked at each other in shock and amazement at the wonder of God and how He brings things to light. We then at that moment knew where our journey would next take us. **PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CHAPMAN FAMILY DUE TO THEIR RECENT LOSS OF THEIR YOUNGEST DAUGHTER, MARIA SUE CHAPMAN, AGE 5 ON MAY 21, 2008.**

I can honestly say that I don't remember much about the concert except it was nice but when God takes an opportunity to "speak" to you it's kind of hard to remember anything else but what God just spoke.

So I honestly cannot remember if it was the very next day or a couple of days (as I was still in shock on how God works) when we received a phone call to find out someone we knew was pregnant and wanted to put the baby up for adoption. All we could say was WOW this was the answer to our prayers.

We immediately started the process by contacting an adoption agency (Graceworks Lutheran) and our birthmother started counseling. We agreed with birthmother that to be a part of the pregnancy I would take her to the doctor appts, my husband and I would be present for the ultrasound, and she allowed us to be at the birth. It was great! During this time I started the process of preparing to breastfeed. I followed the NEWMAN-GOLDFARB PROTOCOLS FOR INDUCED LACTATION almost to a tee (COMING SOON- My breastfeeding story). On June 16, 2004 my first daughter came into this world and my husband and I stayed in the hospital room for the mandatory 72 hours (required by state for adoptions) so that I could breastfeed and care for her around the clock. (BTW-the maternity doctors and nurses were very supportive and helped me out immensely as they had never dealt with an adoptive breastfeeding situation before.) She attended her first Ladies Day of Renewal (where I remember her nursing while I worked the registration table) in September 2005.

Near Christmas time of 2004 (my oldest daughter was about 6 months old) we got a call from the birthmother letting us know that she was pregnant again and wanted to know if we would want to adopt again because she did not want to split the children up. We again were floored at how God works but immediately agreed and started the process all over again. On September 10, 2005 I attended the first part of the Ladies Day of Renewal and then left to be with the birthmother during labor. My youngest daughter came into this world that afternoon. I once again stayed in the hospital for the mandatory 72 hours and nursed and cared for her around the clock (hubby stayed with then 15 month old oldest daughter). I was already still nursing (oldest daughter nursed until she was almost 2) so we did a little tandem nursing every so often but unfortunately youngest daughter did not want to nurse past 2 months.

Then in March of 2007 we found out through another friend that her niece abandoned her 2 ½ month old at daycare on a Friday, we were contacted immediately because of the close relationship my mother-in-law has with the aunt (and we knew her also) to see if we would care for him. This is a bit of a long story and will have to save it for later as we are still going through the legality of it all but needless to say that we were awarded legal custody of him in April 2007 which is the next highest to adoption. And as I stated in my profile we do want to adopt him and are praying God’s direction.

Comments

Devisy said…
Wow, your story brought me to tears. God is so good isn't he! It amazes me that you were able to breastfeed them. So beautiful.
Audrey said…
Wow, God really TRULY is awesome!! :)
(btw, I grew up near Springfield.)
Anonymous said…
What a wonderful testimony! I love when Hod is moving so obviously on His people's hearts for adoption.i am in Springfield also, and Carey directed me to this post.
For Him,
Michele
http://bhope.blogspot.com/

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