Huge Updates!

Where do I even start? I know, I know...how do I go this long wtihout updating when things are finally starting to happen?? Honestly? Some parts of me are still scared to death thinking "What if something goes wrong? What if this doesn't go through?" BUT....I know that sharing this journey and experience with all of you brings me so much joy. Plus, I really want all of this written down so I don't forget details!Most of you already know, but for those of you who don't....

About two weeks after our profile was sent to Snowflake, I contacted Megan to see if our profile had gone out. I got a reply from her saying that she was trying to send out our profile, but the email addresses she had on file weren't working. Later that day, she emailed again saying she was able to get a correct email address for them and had sent out our profile. That weekend, I was out of town for a girls' weekend...thankfully, it was an incredible group of Christian women who talked, loved and prayed me through the weekend as I was a bundle of nerves! They were the ones who were excited. Me? Sure, I was excited, but I was terrified. I hadn't really told anyone outside of my parents about the profile going out because I was honestly terrified of being "rejected". What if they didn't like our profile? What if they didn't think we'd be the "right" parents for their embryos? I knew that God's hand was over the whole thing, but my mind couldn't help but stay cautious.

The whole weekend, though, the girls were stoked. And their excitement helped my excitement. And then I shared the news with my amazing HP girls and so many of my HP sisters had such amazing advice and words of encouragement for me.

On Wednesday, August 19th, I received an email from Megan. It read:

Dear "Hubby" & Heather,


Congratulations, you have been selected! Your biography and photo collage were out for consideration by B & D, who live in _________. They have now contacted me and said that they would like for you to adopt their three (3) embryos. Accordingly, please find attached their letter, autobiography and photo collage.


Once you have made your decision to accept or decline this match please notify me at your earliest convenience so we can proceed accordingly. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.

EEK!!! They liked us! They really liked us!!! It was an incredible moment. Rodney was still at work, so I SOMEHOW managed not to open the attached documents until he got home. I don't know how I pulled that off! I had to work a couple more hours, but all I could think about was this possible match.

When Rodney got home, we opened the documents together. The embryos were created from an egg donor, and they had health information for her as well. Health history for dad - check. All looked good there. Health history for genetic mother - check. The dad and the genetic mother are both computer gurus (so is my man!). There are some tall genes in the family (my hubby is 6'4"). Swedish and Irish background. Then the big moment - pictures of their children.

Absolutely beautiful. Two precious little girls with blond hair and brown eyes. They have traits that remind each of us in someone in our family.

Everything was perfect - we couldn't ask for a better match.

Except....there were only 3 embryos. I know that may sound like a pthetic reason to say no, but I was beyond convinced that God was going to match us with a family with a large number of embryos. It was etched in my brain that we would have several embryos so we could attempt several transfers and hopefully have genetic siblings as well.

My heart was so conflicted...I mean, here are these three precious embryos ready to come to us if we just give the word. And yet - I hesitated.

Rodney, on the other hand, was so excited. He was ready to say yes, but he wanted me to be convinced, ready and 100% sure. So we kept praying and waiting. We told some of our family and friends, but I was again nervous to share...I didn't think anyone would understand where I was coming from.

On Friday, I was able to talk to Megan (our Snowflake Coordinator). That was such a completely God-driven call. Somehow, we got to talking about how the embryos were frozen. I had spent the past 2 days assuming that the embryos were all frozen together in one straw. Well, she went and looked at the records - the embryos had all been frozen in individual straws at the blast stage. This was AMAZING news to me!!! Now, we had the option - we could transfer 1 or 2 the first time and save 1 or 2 for a second transfer (hopeful a genetic sibling after a successful first transfer)!!! We still spent the weekend praying about it, but Monday morning I emailed Megan and accepted the match.

So we are now officially adopting three perfect, amazing embryos. :) The paperwork is still in process, and I cannot wait until the legal paperwork is complete making them OUR children.

There were some amazing sisters in Christ who have been down this path who were instrumental in helping me really feel okay no matter what my decision ended up being. They helped me realize that if I said no, that would be okay. And that was something I was feeling guilty over. But after much prayer, I realized I no longer thought I should say yes over a guilt of denying these embryos - I WANTED to say yes to these precious babes God had brought us. :)

I'll keep you all updated as this goes...but at some point, I'll be going mum about everything. We really want the chance to surprise everyone with an announcement and that means not sharing everything as we go.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, encouragement, love, support and amazing friendship!! We are so excited to be sharing this with all of you!

I love each and everyone of you so much and am so blessed to have you in my life!