Kristy and I ventured off to the doctors today for another appointment. On the way, we had what’s become a familiar and frequent conversation; the “what do you think it’s going to be?” one. Then inevitably, the question of name comes up. I’m stuck. I can think of a bunch of girl names I like but not so much with the boy. I often chose to opt-out of the conversation. Since the gender is unknown, the conversation is pointless…until today.

In case your wondering what you’re looking at, just look in the middle. Those are two legs and a…yup. You guessed it. No shame in his game.

While it’s fun to think about having another baby, when I found out that it was a boy, it immediately felt different than with Savannah. Here’s why:

• He’ll learn what being a man means from me, and sometimes it won’t be by what I say
• He’ll watch and learn of my weaknesses; which will give him the desire to be different and better, but not in a “dad you suck” kind of way
• His perspective of God, the ultimate “Father” will be molded by me, his earthly father
• His drive and ambition will be directed by what he sees in me…even when I work late into the evening
• His love and respect for women will be developed by how I respect, love and cherish both Kristy and Savannah; nobody else will have more influence regarding this, than me
• What’s important to me, will be important to him … even I don’t see it until he’s 32
• Finally, my branch of the Chowning name will live on another generation

January 17, 2009, here we come!

If you’ve read this blog over the years, no doubt that you’ve shared the highs and low of the process that Kristy and I have gone through to start our family. After six infertility treatments (five artificial insemination and one round of IVF), two miscarriages and a whirlwind of emotions, last year on July 17, Savannah Grace was celebrated in ridiculous fashion as she made her way into the world. Needless to say, we were one of the lucky ones to have had our girl after going through so much.

You might be wondering why we had to go through all of those procedures? We were too. I’m not talking about why God made us go through all of that, rather what was going on with either of our bodies to purpose us with this process. While we never figured it out, we had always concluded that our future attempts would take the same road.

We were wrong.

March 2008, we found out that we were pregnant. Much to our surprise, we headed to the doctor to confirm what five, yes 1-2-3-4-5 pregnancy sticks had already told us. It was true, but so were the signs of miscarriage. Days later we lost our third baby.

Normally, this would have devastated us but something remarkable had happened; we got pregnant on our own. That’s never, repeat NEVER, happened before. We hesitated to claim our healing, our miracle, but we did. Remarkably, the joy of the miracle cast a shadow on our grief.

The very next month, it happened. Pregnant again!

As of today, we’re rounding the bend towards 11 weeks. The baby is healthy and growing.

Over the past five years, we celebrated, laughed, cried, been angry, demanded answers, agreed to disagree with God, and wondered if we’d ever be a family. Today, we’re a family of three with another on the way.

Miracles do happen.