How We Got Started

Chris and I grew up together. We went to the same high school. We attended the same church. We never dated until after college. When we began dating, I was teaching in Oklahoma and Chris was in the U.S. Marine Corps stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA. We knew very early in our relationship that we were meant for each other.

We married in June 2003 and lived in CA for two years. While in CA, we decided to start our family. I got pregnant quickly and easily, but we were devastated to find that pregnancy was ectopic (tubal) and I had to have immediate surgery. It was very hard going through that thousands of miles away from home, but we leaned on each other and we got through it.

In the summer of 2005, a teaching job opened in our hometown of Altus, OK. Chris was completing his term as a US Marine, and he wanted to move home to pursue his life-long dream of becoming a OK State Trooper. He couldn't move back to OK until October because of his commitment to the USMC, so I moved home early and began teaching at Altus High School. When I moved home in July, I was pregnant. I miscarried that baby on the first day of school in August 2005.

Chris received his honorable discharge from the USMC and moved home in October 2005. We still wanted to get pregnant and by December, we did. I miscarried that baby in early January. After this third loss, we really started wondering what was going on, so I went through many tests. I was low on progesterone (a hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy). So my doctor put me on progesterone and we were pregnant once again late February 2006. We were elated. We knew this was it. I got to 8 weeks in that pregnancy before finding that it, too, was an ectopic. I'll never forget when the doctor told us that my tube could not be saved. We were devastated. There would be no possible way for us to get pregnant naturally.

After several years of saving, we tried IVF (in-vetro fertilization) in the summer of 2009. It was the hardest, most emotional thing thusfar. We thought that IVF would be our answer. I was healthy and our embryos looked fantastic to the specialist. We had two embryos implanted and we found out in August 2009 that neither embryo survived the implantation process. We were again, devastated. We had three frozen embryos left from the IVF process. In March of 2010, we had those three babies implanted. We lost them on March 15, 2010.

The bottom line is, after losing so many babies, Chris and I never lost hope. We had a rough time emotionally. We never faltered in our faith that God has a child for us. As of March 2010, we were both insistent on trying IVF over, and over, and over again whether or not it completely broke us emotionally and financially. I have to say, that only by the grace of God, are we at this point we are at now. We want to adopt...

I have a dear friend going through the same thing. In fact, I am certain the Lord put her in my life for this purpose-to help me through this journey. I told her that I could not pray and ask God to take the desire to have my own child away as she did for herself. I just couldn't do it. So, she prayed that for me. On Wednesday, April 7th, I went to school like I do every day. But this day, I had this overwhelming peace come over me about never carrying my own baby. I came home that day and through tear-filled eyes, I talked to Chris about it. God had told him-that day- that we were not supposed to do IVF anymore. The only option left for us was adoption.

We let it sink in a few days and God continued to bless our decision to adopt. We have started the adoption process as of early June. We are now waiting on three home studies, and in October, we have to take parenting classes every Saturday for eight hours. After all of the paperwork, home studies, and classes are completed, our names should go on "the list" by mid-November. We are so excited. We know that this is what God wants us to do. I will be good to add to this. I've never written a blog before, but as I'm learning, there's a first time for everything. Love, Audra