Calling all Prayer Warriors!

Friends,

The first procedure in the IVF process will happen tomorrow morning at 9:30am. Jason and I have to be at PREG in Greenville at 9am to get everything started. I will be sedated for the egg retrieval, and well, Jason just has to give a sperm sample. The procedure takes about 20 minutes to retrieve all the eggs, and afterwards I will be released home to rest. Hopefully, I will be fine and ready to head back to work Wednesday. Before we leave the office, we will be told how many eggs were retrieved and will get a call the next day about how many were successfully fertilized.

I have never felt the kind of love, support, and prayers lifted for us before like I have since we started this process. It brings tears to my eyes as I type to think about all the people out there that have loved on us, sent us encouragement, and prayed on our behalf. I was always somewhat apprehensive about sharing my blog with people I knew, because I thought people would think we were weird or that we had major issues. However, since posting my blog to FaceBook the very first time, I never looked back nor regretted letting you all know about our infertility struggle.

Now, we need your prayers more than we ever have. All this is getting so very real, and we are getting very close to end of the process. It seemed easier at first to talk about because it was going to be about a 2 month process and 2 months seemed quite long at the time. Now, I've injected all the stimulation medication, taken all the oral medication, and I'm ready for retrieval. It's unreal how quickly this has snuck up on us.

So how can you pray? Many of you may still be a little unsure of what this process entails, so here is a list of things you can specifically pray for tomorrow at 9:30am:

1. Pray the doctor will retrieve a lot of eggs and that most are mature enough to be fertilized.
2. Pray we will get good sperm to fertilize the eggs.
3. Pray that over the next 3-5 days as the embryos are incubated that many will survive and grow into healthy embryos that have the potential to be transferred back into the uterus.

Some of you may not understand any of that, but will you please partner with us and pray the Lord will do these things? The whole reason I ever decided to share our journey is to have people who love us and support us to pray the Lord will grant our desire to have a healthy baby. We know and have read many times that "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" Matthew 18:20. We also know to "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4. Lastly, I love this part in James that our pastor has spoken on recently (James 5:13-18)

The Prayer of Faith

¹³ Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Some people may not see infertility as a "sickness" but it is a condition that prevents couples from having children and it can be "healed" through medicine and procedures mankind has created. The Lord has gifted many men and women with the ability to help the "sick," and I am truly thankful for these kinds of people. While the Lord is fully capable to heal anyone, isn't it cool that he allows man to step in and use his/her talents/gifts to help those who need it? I think it's quite amazing:)

I love the part about "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Have you ever thought to yourself "oh...there are so many people praying, what's one more?" Well, let me tell you, I have witnessed many miracles through prayer, and I can attest to the power of many people lifting up prayers to the Lord on someone else's behalf. While I used to feel weird about asking people to pray for me (especially if I thought my request wasn't as important as someone else's), I covet your prayers more than ever and thank you for loving us enough to see how much this means to us!

After retrieval tomorrow, and as we get closer to the embryo transfer, I will ask for your prayers again, but they will be specific to the transfer procedure. We love you all very much and thank you in advance for praying for/with us tomorrow at 9:30!

Lastly, this song has been my go-to song to remember to stay strong through this process and through any hardship in life. I hope you'll watch the video and listen carefully to the words of this song. I claim these words as we walk through this journey!