Saturday, March 15, 2014

When does 3 = 8???

When does 3 = 8???

Sounds crazy, I know... Yesterday we celebrated the living, breathing, miraculous life of this little guy Levi Ryan... and that is exactly when...

3 = 8!!!

Yesterday Levi turned 3... but in all honesty he is really a whole lot closer to 8 years old...  This precious little man was frozen as an embryo for 5 years...

I know that maybe most of you have heard his story before...but maybe some of you haven't.  To us, this story deserves telling again and again... All Glory to God!  My mind can still hardly fathom it all... God breathed life into Levi nearly 8 years ago for a sweet young couple longing for a child... And then while other embryos were transferred he, along with many more of his tiny little siblings, were frozen.  After a 2nd embryo transfer resulted in twins for this couple, using the rest of the embryos was put on hold...  Waiting for their perfect time... the time God ordained for them to have life... even if only for some of them, for a few more days.

Then sadly this young mom was widowed with 2 year old twins... (I know that this young dad's passing, Ryan, whom Levi Ryan is named for... was the pivotal point in eventually Levi becoming ours... but I still am so sad that Levi won't ever know his biological dad here on earth... I am sad that we won't know Him this side of Heaven...  We will all have to wait to meet him in Heaven...  I can not wait for all of the reunions that will take place on that day:)

And one comment on a blog about a year and a half later led us down the crazy but absolutely wonderful journey to this little guy!  After many months many many emails full of questions, answers and getting to know one another on both our part and Levi's biological mom, the amazing decision was made that we would adopt Levi and his other siblings... there were 7 embryos total...

Within a couple of months all 7 had a chance for life... in fact, all 7 survived the thaw but a few days later 4 were no longer growing... I still think it is neat that God knew the number of those little tiny ones days... They still had life in them... while not longterm here with us... He knew the exact number of days ordained for them...

And Levi, the lone survivor of all 7... the 3 they transferred were only given a 30% chance for one, and the others both a 25% chance of surviving... and here he is... 3 years old... full of life... full of silliness... full of the best hugs and kisses... What a miraculous gift...

Honestly at times I can hardly still believe it happened... that it worked and that He is ours... What an incredible gift from God!

(Can you believe how absolutely precious and funny he is???)



Our little Levi has got some swag:):)  Every single year as his birthday draws near, I am overcome with emotions...

Overcome, remembering the fear I had while I was pregnant with him...

Overcome, thinking about the 49 days I was in the hospital before he was safely born into our arms...
(I don't think anything has ever felt so good as His safe, wiggly, soft, sweet smelling, perfect little body alive in our arms!!  Thank you Jesus!)

Overcome by recalling the boredom of 10 weeks of bedrest... and the amazing giving of our sweet friends to help keep our family afloat during that time...

Overcome by the visits from sweet friends and a pastor friend who would literally walk to the hospital at least once a week to make sure I was being cared for spiritually during this stressful time...

Overcome by the miraculous power of our God to breath life back into something that was frozen for 5 years...

Overcome by how much we are FULL of love for him!

Overcome by how perfectly God made HIM, LEVI RYAN, for us...

Overcome by the sheer fact that He lived... We adopted him and 6 of his siblings... but yet, he grew inside of me... a TOTAL MIRACLE!

Overcome that there could have been more of his same sweetness... I often think of the other 6 siblings that could have been here with him (at one point or another... the doctors never would have transferred more than 3)... But I am always gently reminded that the Lord knew the exact number of their days as well!

Overcome that God saw fit to open our hearts and lives to adoption... Oh we would be missing out on so much sweetness in our life!

I could go on and on with how absolutely amazed I am that this little sweet bundle of love is ours...

He's got eyelashes that just don't quit and sometimes a strong will to match:):)  We are so thankful for the gift that he is to us every single day... Happy 3rd Birthday precious boy!

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