First Comes Love

It's so funny to look back and think about the life you had planned out when you were still in high school. If there was one thing I knew I wanted to do, it was to start my family right out of college. My mom had been married out of high school and was 3 short days from twenty-one when she gave birth to me. I enjoyed growing up with parents that were energetic and young, and in my grand plan of life I planned to be done with my family by the time I was thirty.

And now, here I am, at thirty, expecting my first child with Dirk. It's not like I tried to delay the process. Since I became a woman, I had an innate consciousness that the next logical step was to become a mom. Not because I was physically able, but because my heart called out to be one. 

While I may have wished at one point that I could have started my family a decade earlier, God had a much better plan in mind. Ten years ago I hadn't met my future husband and our baby's soon to be Dad! I couldn't possibly imagine having a child without him. Even with these hormones that are making me quite difficult to tolerate, I am rooted in his love.

And that's what took the longest time; finding the love of my life. We have been married for almost 2 years now, and it didn't take us long to begin the process of bringing a new being into the world. We started new, fulfilling careers after moving to our favorite part of Texas. We bought a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a big backyard in a safe neighborhood. I traded in my trusty Honda Accord, for a family friendly 4-door Toyota Rav4. We had checked off the "to-dos" of starting a family, but that alone does not produce a baby. When you've been trying to make a baby, it is truly a miracle when you see that pregnancy test produce 2 blue lines!

In our 6 years of dating, Dirk and I have enjoyed our time of simply loving each other and our furry children Kerby and Lou. Getting to travel around the world, snuggle up together on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and explore the outdoors by bike, foot, or Ruby (Dirk's Jeep) with our dogs are just a few things that have made starting our family all worth waiting for. In just 20 short weeks, I try to remind myself all of our usual weekend activities will seem like luxuries.

First comes love. Then came marriage. And soon, comes Dirk pushing the baby carriage.