gotcha days

Gotcha day. It's an adoption term for the day you "got your" baby, toddler, kiddo, or, in our case, embies.

March 21, 2012: Our first gotcha day. Two beautiful embies from our wonderful donor couple, J & J, survived their thaw and were given to us, placed in ma'belly, and were carried home to Iowa, to prayerfully grow, grow, grow. As you know, those embies headed home to God and are now dancing for Him. I imagine two little girls in pink tutus dancing in His light, giggling. It is a comfort for me.

While this gotcha day didn't end as I had thought, but in tears and a sense of loss, I am beyond thankful for it. Thankful that our embies are experiencing life now, above, and thankful for the relationship we have with the donor couple, J & J. She has been a shoulder to me, carrying me through so many of the emotions, as she was once there herself. So, in a sense, March 21 was the gotcha day of a dear, dear friend. It will always be a special day to me.

June 12, 2012: Gotcha day #2. I won't lie. I went into this day with the expectation of loss. I figured the same thing would happen as did with our first embies, so I barely allowed myself to hope, other than in Christ. I held onto Him, but didn't allow myself to get so attached to the possibility of life, as I had done before. Remember, I don't like to hurt. I wasn't bitter, just wanted to get the loss over with again, if that's what was to happen.

This whole journey was crazy. Originally, our gotcha day was supposed to be May 16th, not the greatest for my schedule as I had a cake to make for a wedding, and the wedding festivities that weekend. But, we were going to make it work. A few weeks before the transfer, they had to move it to the first week in June, PERFECT! I was super glad for this move, as I didn't want to be uber stressed that week in May with my committments and all. BUT, a few weeks before that date, they moved it AGAIN, to the second week in June, which was probably the worst week possible for me. My best friend was getting married that week, I was in the wedding, had to make her a cake, plus help her out as much as possible. Ha! God has a funny sense of humor, huh?

So, we drove to Tennessee, had the transfer on Tuesday, June 12 (Jerome's birthday, of all days!!), drove home the very next day (straight through, 14+ hours), just in time for me to help my Krista prepare for the beginning of her and her fiance's beautiful life together. To say I was super exhausted by Sunday would be an understatement, haha!

This time, our donor couple, P & W, had three embies we adopted. Two survied the thaw, one did not. I know she's in Heaven with our others, dancing her little heart out. Why do I envision them all as girls? I have no idea! My silly brain!

With all we had going on that week and then next, I had zero time to worry, wonder, or stress. I'm so thankful for that! The wait to find out the results flew by.

Thank You, Lord, for your sovereignty, in all.