Hey Ya’ll! My name is Sarah, and I am a wife to James and a mama to two precious little girls – Emeri Ann and Evie Mac. Our prayer for this blog is that the Lord is glorified through a journey that we would have never chosen in the beginning if given the option, but would now choose over and over again just to get the thirty-seven weeks and two days in the womb and the three days with her here on earth – to get the opportunity to witness miracle after miracle, to build the relationships that we have with each other as a family, and most importantly to experience the closeness that we feel to Jesus. To help me cope and remember, I want to go way back in my mind to how it started …
James and I got married on June 3, 2017 – The Lord designed James specifically for me. He is patient, he is kind, he is a good listener, he loves Jesus, he is a great example for myself and others to look up too, he loves Millwood as much as I do, he is a whole lot like my daddy … He is all that I had ever prayed for. We lived in the perfect little one bedroom one bath home that my cousin had built right beside my parents. At the time, I worked as a counselor at a School-Based Mental Health facility and James owned “Bowman Outdoors”, an outdoorsman’s dream – an all things hunting and fishing business. I signed up to complete a two-year Master of Education in School Counseling program the same day that James and I had a conversation about when we would like to start trying for our first child. We agreed that once I finished the program we would begin trying for a baby, but the Lord had different plans …
Exactly one day after that conversation, we found out that we were expecting our first glimpse of Heaven on Earth. We had what would be considered a very easy pregnancy with our first little girl, Emeri Ann – we had a great doctor, regular in and out visits with no hold ups, positive feedback each time, quick sonograms that would tell us that she was thriving, blood pressure in the normal range, an anterior placenta, and a frank breech baby girl that refused to turn. I am not sure that we ever reviewed a lab result during our time with her in the womb – in fact, I don’t believe we even knew that we had the ability to view any results. All the visits were good, so we trusted that our girl was good, and she was. Emeri Ann was born at thirty-nine weeks and six days by c-section on July 1, 2019, at 9:07 am weighing 6 pounds .08 ounces. She was perfect in every way. We took her home two days later while family surrounded us and loved on her every chance they got … We didn’t realize it then, but she would later give us the hope and joy that our hearts needed during the most difficult days of our lives.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well”. Psalm 139:13-14
James and I began praying in 2022 for the Lord to bless us with child number two if and when He saw fit. We weren’t the only ones praying. At the young age of two years old, Emeri Ann began praying for a baby sister every night. The Lord answered our prayers and on June 18, 2023, we found out that we were expecting our second glimpse of Heaven on Earth. We were so excited that Father’s Day morning and took lots of pictures and cried lots of happy tears. We scheduled our first Doctor’s appointment for July 6, 2023 – At just seven weeks the sonographer placed the monitor on my belly and the sound of the strongest heartbeat filled the room. Our hearts were so incredibly thrilled to hear that beautiful sound – Isn’t it amazing that at seven weeks of age our baby was only the size of a raspberry and approximately half an inch long, but had a heartbeat so strong that it would fill the room? The Lord was preparing a perfect baby just for our family … He chose US! Wow …
We filled a basket full of pink and blue things, a big sister t-shirt, a sonogram picture, a sister book and we would get pink and blue balloons blown up – three different times, in fact, because I would tell James that we would tell Emeri that she was going to be a big sister on a specific day and then I would back out … The balloons would deflate and then we would plan a day to tell her again, we’d get balloons blown up and tie them to the basket and then once more I would back out. We were beyond excited, but I’m not the biggest fan of change and I wanted the surprise to be so special for our girl, so I held off as long as possible until I just couldn’t anymore. August 13, 2023, was a special day – The balloons were still filled with air, and we told Emeri Ann that her prayers had been answered … She was going to be a big sister. We opened the door to an empty room filled with a full basket and pink and blue balloons – The excitement in her voice is something that will never be forgotten. We then shared the news with all of our favorite people and have videos that we look back on now to help us remember the journey – Oh, what a day filled with the sweetest memories … ❤
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. James and I had a plan on when we would begin trying to have our first little glimpse of Heaven on Earth, but the Lord’s plans were different and have always been good. James and I envisioned what our life would be like with two children when we found out that we were expecting our second glimpse of Heaven on Earth – We imagined how our bed would be filled with our two children at night, how each of our vehicles would have two car seats, we imagined the two of them playing in their room and running around outside, eating dinner together, going to church on Sunday’s as a family of four and the list will forever go on – We had a plan of what our lives would look like when we found out that we were expecting again. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. Isaiah 55:8-9
We would soon have to rely on Jeremiah 29:11 and Isaiah 55:8-9 like never before and have Faith that the Lord’s plans truly were good, that His ways truly were greater than ours and that His will be done.
#Hechoseus #Hisplans #Trisomy18
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