I had to blog about this

I have had this blog post rolling around in my head for some time now. I am just now getting around to posting it. I think it is a sweet testimony to God's answering prayer. This picture is old. It's actually from beach project when I wasn't quite 20 weeks. Rest assured I am much larger than this now! My friend here is Lauren. Lauren and her husband are on staff with Campus Outreach in a region in the south. Lauren is also about 20 weeks pregnant here. Her due date is one week behind mine. In this picture we had actually just met each other in person for the first time. We actually got connected back in the fall ( a year ago now) through a mutual friend. This friend thought we should talk with each other because we had something in common, infertility. I don't think that I've ever mentioned our infertility on this blog, but I am pretty open about it when people ask. Charlie and I had a hard time getting pregnant with Callie (took about 14 mos) and with Coleman (took about 18 mos). Whenever I had a chance to talk with other women who went/were going through the same thing it was such a blessing, so when I had an opportunity to talk with Lauren I jumped on it. At this point last year when I first started talking over the phone with Lauren (mind you we had never met in person), her and her husband had been trying for nearly 4 years to get pregnant! I was honored that she was willing to talk with me. I had not even come close to dealing w/ infertility as long as she had, plus I had one child already. Nevertheless, she opened up her life and heart with me, basically a total stranger. Our phone friendship proved to be such a blessing! About once or twice a month we'd catch up with each other and we would pray for each other over the phone, praying that we would trust the Lord amidst our struggles and asking that He'd open our wombs. This went on for a little over 6 months. She was such an encouragement to me during that time. Anyway, you can imagine what a sweet blessing it was for us to find out about a week apart that we were both pregnant. There was not even a part of me that thought "funny coincidence." It was no coincidence that after 18 mos. for me and 4 1/2 years for her that we were pregnant at the same time. I truly believe God brought us together to pray for each other/bear each others' burden so that we could together, watch him answer our prayers. So, you can imagine how sweet it was to get to meet her in person for the first time this summer. So, thanks for reading this long post. I can't end though without mentioning that as sweet as it is to be pregnant (I thank God constantly) it just isn't the greatest, best thing on earth. Family, pregnancy, babies, they are all awesome gifts from God, but they really do not compare with the gift of Christ and the joy of having a relationship with him. I wouldn't want anyone (esp. anyone who might be struggling w/ infertility) to read this and think, "now she has arrived" or "God is not as good to me as her because He has yet to answer this prayer of mine." The reality is that He's always good and his goodness is most evident in the gift of Christ, not the gift of pregnancy. Now, if I could always live in light of what I just "preached" here, that would be awesome.