Reposting this to make it easier to find if you are reading this blog for the first time because you received an email on our "Little Rockopoly game".
I have began this blog to tell you a little about my family and to ellicit some help.
My name is Tiffany. I was born in Mississippi, the 3rd of 4 children and the only girl. All my life I have dreamed of the family that I would once have, never seeing few children in my future. I have always wanted a big family so I was devasted when I ran into infertility problems after getting married. But before I go into that, let me tell you a little more about my past.
I was always a very healthy child, never sick...until my sophmore year in high school. I began to feel very weak and winded. I thought that I was sure getting out of shape..even though I went dancing every weekend and was in gymnastics. I really didn't know what was going on. That January, I turned 16. Like any ordinary teenager, I got to have the car that weekend and took my friends "cruising" town. We had so much fun that night. Little did I know what was about to happen. My birthday was on the 13th. On the 19th, my mother woke me up, told me to take a shower (not to put any makeup on), and to get ready to go to the doctor (again). This was not my 1st visit. This was probably the 4 or 5. We had already been to my PCP and the ENT because of a swollen lymph node behind my right ear that was soo big my friends were teasing me about having a tumor. (Boy did they feel bad later!!)
That morning, I was so tired that I didn't want to do anything. I got up, took a shower, and did what my mom said to do. As we walked into the doctor's office, I could hear to nurses talking to one another. I was so white that they could not beleive that I was walking on my own. This doctor's visit, the doctor took blood for the 1st time and sent us home with iron pills for anemia. I went home and crashed on the couch. The next thing I knew, my mom was waking me up and telling me to get in the car. I was so confused. My dad was home in the middle of a work day and my mom had packed our bags. I was told that we were going to Arkansas Children's Hospital but nothing else. (oh yeah did I forget to mention we moved to Arkansas)
At Children's, the news was finally broke to me. I had leukemia (ALL--acute lymphacytic leukemia). I underwent 2 1/2 yrs of chemotherapy, lost all my hair, and missed 1/3 of my sophmore year in school (however my teachers found it in their hearts to send my work home to me). I tried to be positive through everything even though I occassionally got boughed down by the chemo or by loosing my hair again after it had begun to come back in.
Good did come from this time in my life. I met my husband during this time. I was ball headed and he had just come home from the Army. We had mutual friends and had both stopped to talk to them "cruising town" (on one of the few nights that my mom let me out of the house). We instantly hit it off and have been together for 15 years (married for 11 of those). He has seen me during my worst and best times. His friends use to ask him "who the little boy was riding in the truck with him", but it never bothered him.
Years later after high school and during my last semester in college, we got the news that I was pregnant. We were so excited but the pregnancy was accompanied by appendicitis. Following a appendectomy the doctor said that the baby was fine. We were elated until our 1st miscarriage. I was 4 1/2 months along and devastated. A year later, we got pregnant again. Worried but excited again, I found myself trying to do everything right. At our visit to hear the heartbeat, we found out that I had had another miscarriage at 7 wks. Devastated is putting it lightly. I fell into a pretty deep depression. Crying myself to sleep nightly.
When we decided to try again, I was terrified. I didn't think I could go through it again. I got pregnant again and this time with the help of my doctor (who saw me weekly because I was always frightened something was going wrong), I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. He came 3 weeks early and I was on bed rest for 6 weeks but everyday that I look into his face, I know that he is a gift from GOD!!
I couldn't have been happier until my son was 6 months old and I found out that I was pregnant again. Scared but very happy, I called the doctor. This pregnancy ended in disaster too but was alot easier to take since I had my precious little boy.
My son is the light of my life, my little miracle baby, but I still have that desire for a larger family. He is now 3 1/2 and wants a baby sister badly. We have not prevented getting pregnant since the last miscarriage but have not been pregnant since (3 yrs). I really don't want to be pregnant again and neither does my loving husband. In the last year or 2, we have felt a very strong pull to adopt. We started the process last June through DHS but have decided that we want to adopt internationally.
Now I have finally come to the reason that I began this blog.....We need your help! Adoption is a very expensive process and we are now in major fundraising mode. We will be posting ways that you can help us in the days to come and I will be keeping you updated on our progress along with family news and decisions. I am very excited about this blog and plan on trying to write something on it daily. Please keep us in your prayers and check in with us often to see how we are doing. Our goal is to raise $30,000 and so far with our 1st fundraisers (Rhea Lana and Duck Duck Goose consignment sales and blankets), we have raise $1200. Not much but it is a start:)
Well it is getting late and I need to go to bed......Love your sister in Christ
No comments:
Post a Comment