The Derricks: February 2010

Okay, so it's been a long time since I posted anything new. It's been a little crazy around here, not to mention we have pitiful internet service here in the boondox. (Poor Ben has been working so hard on this for 18 months now.)

First, we had Christmas, travel, etc. Then, beginning on December 27th, we had two back-to-back 300-plus student retreats here at camp over the course of eight days. It was MADNESS! Ben was battling a pretty bad illness this whole time and kind of barely getting through the busyness. And then came a WONDERFUL surprise...the news of a new baby! Needless to say, we were completely THRILLED! So for the last three weeks, I have been driving 40 minutes in to the doctor two times a week for blood work. So please forgive me for being inattentive to the blog!

As many of you know, I have been battling fertility issues for a long time, before we had Owen and again this time. It's been a long, emotional journey for Ben and I. I had a procedure done right after Thanksgiving that we were both hopeful would help, but to no avail. We were pretty down during the holidays because we knew that our doctor was about to take us in a completely different direction with treatment. We decided to try not to think about it during Christmas and the month of January. We just needed a break emotionally.

During the nighttime worship sessions at the last student retreat, the Lord began to heal my heart of some of the disappointment I was feeling over our failed procedure. I remembered a verse that I had claimed so many times when we were trying to get pregnant the first time: "I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1 It was as if God was saying to me, "I can do this. Put your hope in me." And ever so slowly, a small bit of hope began to return, to me and to Ben.

Over the next week, I began to pray a verse from Isaiah: "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him." So I determined in my heart and mind that I would just wait. Whatever that looked like, for however long.

After the third student retreat, Ben and I had an appointment with our doctor to discuss a new "game plan." On the very last day of the third student retreat, two days before our appointment, what'd'ya'know? We found out we are pregnant!!! God is good!

Due to the chemical pregnancy that I had had back in July, the doctor wanted to see me right away for blood work. My levels were good, and we felt some relief, but he wanted to see me again two days later to see if the numbers were going up. So we kind of held our breath for two days, praying and hoping. Two days later, the numbers had more than tripled! Seven days later, the numbers were twice what they should have been. Another GREAT sign! And then this past week, we got to see the baby (looks more like a peanut) and the heart and also HEAR the heartbeat! With that, the fertility doctor released us to my OB.

So...now I am almost 8 weeks along! I just went to the OB this week for blood work--again--and will see her in two weeks. Please just be praying for a healthy, strong baby!

"O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago." Isaiah 25:1

Okay, on to the family pics...
Our New Year's resolution was to take more family pictures. So every evening after Ben comes home from work, we have tried our best to remember to set the timer and take a picture together. We had done so well with it...we wanted to see if we could take a picture every day for a month. But then Ben got really sick again, so that was the end of that. We will try to get back into it. For now, here are the ones we got. Enjoy!

Day 1: Here we are at Bass Pro Shop. Owen just loves to go to Bass Pro. He calls it "Moose and Bear." :)

Day 2: Cooper had gotten really muddy this day, and it was too cold to bathe him outside, so I had to bathe him in Owen's tub with the detatchable shower sprayer. Fun!