Peter asked for dark chocolate…instead I gave him a kid for his birthday!

Lots of you are wanting to know the scoop in regards to this pregnancy…did we plan it? Was it a surprise? Are we coming back to the States? How far along am I? So, without further ado, here is the scoop!

Shortly after having Lily, people began saying things like, “You have to have a fourth to even things out!” and “When are you going to have a fourth?”

It was then that I set my mind against a fourth, actually, it was during labor I set my mind against it, no, it was during the last month of pregnancy! I gave away pregnancy clothes, baby toys, and baby clothes as soon as Lily grew out of them. It was my way of expressing to everyone and myself, we’re done making babies.

Deep down though, I knew we were going to have a fourth. So, I decided this fourth should be adopted, especially after seeing so many suffering orphans, and I started researching possibilities and asking Peter what he thought of the idea. He kept saying he didn’t feel led to have another baby, nor adopt one, but wanted to keep that fourth child in our family open to a foster child.

At one point, the thought of having a fourth was so pressing on my mind that I said to the Lord, “If you want us to have a fourth, then Peter needs to sense it too. Confirm it to me by having him bring it up; then I’ll know it’s your will since Peter doesn’t talk about having babies!” Literally, that evening, Peter said something to the effect that he sometimes wonders if we should have another child. He spoke about Lily and how cute she was and simply said he just wondered about having another one. When I pressed him and asked if he felt led to have one, he just said, “No, just wondering.”

That conversation was enough to send me panicking! After that a woman came up to me and asked if I was pregnant and when I said “No!” she said, “are you sure, because I have a sense about these things.” (I was certain I was not pregnant, but that conversation sure made me nervous.) Then my mom calls to say that both of my sisters had a dream about me being pregnant. I simply said, “Well, I’m not and I don’t plan on being, so you all can just stop those dreams!” But, deep down inside I had that sinking feeling that I was wrong, so wrong!

Then we had people randomly ask us things like, “Will there be a baby in your new year? When are you going to have a fourth child?” and “Oh! I just assumed you were going to have a fourth!” Seriously! Why? Why would people assume, wonder, and make comments like that to me all the time?!

I finally decided I needed to give this whole thing over to the Lord and simply said to Him, “Well, you know I’m too scared and selfish to try anything, Peter doesn’t feel led, and so if you want us to have a fourth you’re just gonna have to make it happen despite our precautions.” That was last month.

I Started feeling queasy and nauseous this week–hoped it was the flu bug going around, but then it would stop at noon and start up the next morning again! I told Peter my thoughts and he simply said, “Impossible.” So, you can imagine his shock when I did a test yesterday and received two lines! He just said, “Well, those things can be wrong.” By the afternoon he was commenting on what to name the boy and planning to have it here instead of the States.

One last interesting thing before I close: We told the kids our great news and their excitement was awesome! Then, because of my history of miscarriages (2), we all sat down and decided to pray about when we should tell others–if we should wait the full first trimester or not. Just as we sat down as a family and began to close our eyes and open our mouths to pray my computer phone (Skype) began to ring. We opened our eyes in astonishment! We NEVER get phone calls at 6:30 p.m., but there it was a phone call from my mom! She said I was on her heart and so she decided to call at 5:30 a.m. her time before going to work!

That was all the evidence we needed to make this announcement public. If we miscarry, I would rather grieve with family and friends then grieve alone.

We’re all excited, I’m admittedly disappointed that I’ll be in the States pregnant again, since I so wanted to enjoy the beaches of MI, hiking, biking, and everything else nature related, but I have a lifetime to look forward to those things.

We’ll be talking with our supervisor about the details of our trip home. We are still hoping to come May through July and then perhaps have the baby here in Sept. and then return during Christmas to show off the little one. We’ll confirm these plans in March with our supervisor. In the meantime, please pray for our family and the upcoming decisions we will need to make. A family of 6 is no small feat in China!