Our story...

Justin and I decided in November of 2009 that we were ready to start the exciting adventure of parenthood.  Justin was ready LONG before I was but he was patient!  Things didn't go exactly how we planned they would.  We thought that by September of 2010 we would be proud new parents but God had different plans for our lives.  Over the past year and a half we have dealt with lots of excitement that soon turned to heartache and we were left with many questions as to whether we would ever get to be parents or not.  It seemed that every time I turned around someone else was pregnant and here we were still waiting! We were praying constantly and trusting God to do what was best for our lives or at least that I what I was claiming to do.  I think Justin did pretty well.  He was definitely a constant reminder to me that we couldn't control our situation and that things would eventually work out for us.  On the other hand, I couldn't understand why God would let this happen to us.  Looking back now, I realize that my plans weren't the best for our lives and God was listening to my prayers.  He was just waiting for his time to answer and boy did he answer!  On April 8th, I found out that I was pregnant!  We didn't want to tell anyone until after I had been to the doctor and they confirmed the pregnancy.  But, since I was supposed to go to Charleston that weekend for Lindsey Jackson's bachelorette party...I had to tell Katie!  So, I told her and swore her to secrecy!!  I went for my first appointment on April 22nd and I was defintiely pregnant!  We were so excited.  We told our families the following Sunday...which happend to be Easter!  We still weren't ready for others to know just yet...so again we made our families promise to keep quiet!  My first ultrasound was scheduled for May 10th.  I don't think I have ever been that nervous!  A million things were doing through my head as we waited in that waiting room for what seemed like HOURS!  It was really only about 30 minutes but it seemed like a lifetime.  Then it was finally time to see our baby.  We never imagined that the next 30 minutes would change our lives forever!  I was telling Joan, the ultrasound lady, about me being a twin and the fact that she had been the one to tell my parents they were expecting twins.  We were just chit chatting and all of a sudden, Joan told Justin that he didn't need to look at the screen.  My heart immediately started pounding because I just knew something was wrong.  I asked her is she saw something and she said I see "five" babies.  I said "What" and she said no but I do see two babies.  I looked at her and said "Are you kidding"?  She said no and I started crying!  A couldn't imagine what in the world we were going to do with TWO babies.  Justin was grinning from ear to ear and here I was crying my eyes out.  We continued through the rest of the ultrasound.  Baby "A's" heartbeat was 178 beats per minute and Baby "B's" was 170 beats per minute. I can't remember what they were measuring because I was still in shock at that point.  I am surprised I remember anything.  Well, the ultrasound ended and Joan insisted that I see the doctor before I left.  So, they put us in a room and I told Justin then that something was wrong.  Dr. Russell came in and told us that the fluid around Baby "B" was not at the level it should be and that I would have to come back in two weeks to check and see what happened.  I left that day telling Justin, something is going to happen to Baby "B".  I don't really know how to describe the feelings I was having.  I thought I just wanted to go in there and them tell me that my baby was fine and us walk out like normal people do.  Here we were again in a situation where I was questioning God.  There were several possible outcomes to this situation: 1) both babies would be fine 2) Something would happen to Baby B and my body would just absorb it (this is what is known as the Disappearing Baby Syndrome) or 3) I would miscarry both babies.  You can only imagine what the next two weeks were like for me.  I felt like God was going to take my second baby because of the way I acted when we found out it was two.  It was like He gave us a double blessing and I was mad about it.  Justin told me constantly that day, "Marcie...God answered our prayers with 2 babies!  We are lucky!"  Those two weeks CREEPED by and we went back for our 2nd ultrasound on May 27th.  I think even my grandma in Heaven must have been praying for these babies because the fluid on Baby "B" was back to normal and we were told that everything was going fine now.  Both of their heartbeats were 166 beats per minute and they were both measuring right where they should be.  Once again, I left the doctor's office crying but this time it was tears of joy.  We gave our parents the OK to start telling it and I think within a couple hours all of 96 and most of Greenwood knew.  My phone rang and beeped with text messages all afternoon.  It was such a blessing to see so many people excited for us even though many of them didn't know the long difficult road we had faced.  So, now we are super excited about the idea of two babies and we know that in God's Perfect Timing he answered our prayers.  I hope you will continue to follow us and the story of "Our Faithful Journey"!!

Our first picture as a family of FOUR!!!