July

Well, the idea of frequent updates seemed doable at first. I realize every 2 months is frankly not frequent so for that, sorry! Anyway, we've maintained a very busy schedule of work, school, and Dr.'s appointments the last couple of months and things are going very well. Paramedic school will be wrapping up in the next month or so which is definitely a big relief. As for baby news, there's not too much news to report. Other than that everything is going well. Devin is feeling much better now solidly into the 2nd trimester. These middle of the road Dr.'s appointments don't give us much to talk about. We won't have another ultrasound until 20 weeks. That will be September 2nd and surely we will finally find out what we are having at that appointment. Bets have been placed and team girl seems to be in the lead. But I'm not so sure. In the mean time the baby's room has underwent a dramatic transformation from empty room to crowded living quarters. I will post pictures later today of the work we've done so far. We'll have to wait until September to get the details going but we're pretty happy with the way it's turning out. More updates to come... eventually. Stay tuned.

-Joseph

And now for something completely different.

If you're reading this tonight I imagine I peaked your interest on FaceBook so instead of beating around the bush I will come out and say it. Devin is pregnant. Yes, it's true. No, I'm not kidding. How? I will attempt to answer below if you are able to continue reading. If that's enough information for you, please feel free to stop here. Thank you for reading. If not, continue on.

A few weeks ago I took Devin to the hospital suspecting she was in the middle of an ectopic pregnancy. Having experienced that before we had prepared ourselves for the eventual outcome. The emergency room agreed and recommended that we proceed with a medicinal procedure to solve the ectopic and prevent any harm to Devin. Again, that is a road we had been down before. Somehow, I suppose by the nature of it being midnight the doctors decided to take another look the following morning and decide what to do. After a very long night staring at the ceiling in Suburban Hospital the next test looked worse than before and emergency surgery was recommended.

It's hard to describe the thoughts that swirled around the next few hours. I can tell you that there was a healthy dose of praying involved. The rest is really a blur. During surgery the Dr. came out to speak to me only minutes after the surgery had began. What I expected her to say and what she said were two very different things. Basically, what they thought they saw, they didn't now. What they didn't see before they don't know about, and if you're confused now, imagine how I felt on 2 hours of sleep. There was no ectopic. Everything looks good. We're going to end the surgery and wait this thing out.

Another night of sleeplessness led to an early visit from the Dr. who said looking very astonished herself, that she is still pregnant according to blood work and you can go home. We won't be able to tell you anything more for a few days. Confused, and incredibly worried we were sent on our merry way home. The yard sale benefiting our adoption was 2 days later. So if you came, I apologize for being forced to lie. We simply didn't have any answers ourselves. We appreciate all the support whether it was donating items, or coming to shop. It was a hard day. We raised a good deal of money and we will be making a donation of part of our earnings to Kosair's art department. We just feel like we need to pay it forward so to speak for the gift we were given.

The following Monday we went in for another appointment where they were able to tell us that yes, she was still pregnant and they were able to show us evidence. Still though, the doctor's didn't give us a whole lot of hope saying that because of the surgery and other things going on they just didn't know what would happen. Again, we were sent home without much. More hope than before, but still confusion. Today, almost 3 weeks later we went back to the doctor and were able to hear the miraculous sound of a heartbeat. It's safe to say that I've never been happier in my life. The doctor gave everything a good bill of health, drew blood, told us they still didn't quite understand how this happened, congratulated us, and that was that.

We have spent quite a bit of time discussing when we thought we should tell people. To be honest, we had wanted to wait. Since she was hospitalized and I was shady in my answers to several questions there was a lot of suspicion and it was determined that it was going to get out before we got around to telling anyone. That would have been a disaster. So here we are, telling the world. A couple of you had already figured it out and I appreciate you keeping it to yourselves and off FaceBook. It really means a lot to us. As it looks, January 19th is our expected due date. Begin praying now for sunshine and fifty degree weather instead of the mess of the last few winters.

The amount of events that had to happen the way they did, in the order they did, and without causing harm to anyone involved is truly nothing short of a personal miracle. Thank you all for the support you have given us through everything, the infertility, the adoption process, and now this. We will definitely be needing the support now more than ever. It's almost time to start the next chapter. Thank you for reading. Good night.

I have realized that blogging falls to the bottom of the priority list when I get busy. That might explain why there have been no updates for the last two months. Life has indeed been very busy. Paramedic class is in full swing and I'm doing every thing I can to stay on top of the workload. I spent several days preparing to have our taxes filed and avoid being audited. The hard work paid off and we managed to come out on top by $1.07. That money is going straight into the bank. With that stressor behind me I believe my ulcer can return to it's normal semi-nuisance status. And that's really all I've been up to. I know it doesn't seem like a lot but I can promise you it feels like I've been busy. Maybe it's that I've been lazy. I'll admit to that too.

Snow day

After a very busy year, the new one is upon us and is promising to be even busier. After 4 years of what was supposed to take less than 2, my paramedic class has begun. While I had anxiously anticipated this for some time, it still caught me by surprise. It's difficult to get back in the swing of taking notes, studying, and debating test questions. Of course, this couldn't come at a busier time in my life. I know, however, that if I don't make it work now I might not get such an opportunity again. A free education that centers around my work schedule is the best case scenario. At least that's what I keep telling myself while waking up early on every one of my off days to head in for class. You may ask yourself how I found the time to blog about it. It's a snow day. And it was much needed.

Just needing to put thoughts on paper

Moments after laying down for bed a knock came at the door. I sprang to my feet, grabbed the nearest object / weapon and followed the barking dog down the hall to the front door. It's highly unusual that anyone comes over unannounced, especially late at night. When I opened the door I saw my parents, standing in the cold. For a moment I considered a million reasons why in the middle of the night my parents would be standing on my porch. I realized before they even spoke why they were here. As the words came out of my mother's mouth, it was as if someone had just set time to slo-motion. I sat there, silent for what seemed like an eternity as she proceeded to tell me that my grandfather had passed away. While it came as no true surprise, as he had been battling cancer and other ailments for years; I couldn't help myself from sitting in stunned silence numb to the world around me.

Growing up, I always cherished the time spent with my grandfather. Listening to his stories of years gone by, working with him on houses for less than minimum wage, feeding the chickens he kept in the barn I helped him to build. When my grandmother passed on several years ago a large part of him died as well. You could see it in his eyes. For years he patiently waited to be with her again and I know that he is there now telling her all about it.

It certainly makes you consider your own mortality when a generation of your family is gone. He was the last of my grandparents. I have always prided myself on how much of him I have in me. My red beard, my sense of humor, my love of story telling. Now those things seem a little more important. It pains me to know that my children will never know him but I will make sure that they hear the same stories that were repeated to me so many times over a pepsi. Through that, he will live on.

An overdue update

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I've broke my pledge to update in a timely manner. On Monday, we had our second home study meeting. All the hard work to make the home safe paid off and we passed with flying colors. So long story short, we have the blessing of the government to adopt an infant. As soon as our social worker left there was a long sigh of relief, followed by a joyous celebration, and then it was back to work. We have decided on a placing agency and now the process will begin anew to raise money, pray, and wait.

We have got over the first hurdle and are well on our way down the road. I don't think I could have asked for a better Christmas present than to have this part completed and that worry behind us.

Thanksgiving came and went rather uneventfully. As always, we ran around, ate more than one dinner, and got caught in traffic behind an accident. A fairly typical Thanksgiving for the Prather family. I'm looking forward to Christmas although I'll be working both Christmas eve and Christmas day. It seems like there is a more positive feeling to this years Christmas for me. Looking back a year ago, there was a good deal of hurt and self pity. I preferred to sit around and be sad about what we did not have and forgot to remind myself of the great things that I do. This past year has been a complete change. It's as if for the first time in a while, I'm reminded what a wonderful life ours truly is. And I didn't have to wreck my car and spend a night in the snow with an old man named Clarence to figure it out.

Before I end this blog I have to say to those celebrating the festival of lights. May you have a peaceful and joyous season. And if there are any latkes left over please send them my way.

A Great Big Thank You

We would like to thank everyone involved with the fundraiser. If you donated items, entered the raffle, spread the word on facebook or twitter, we can not thank you enough. We raised a good deal of money and got so much support from friends, family, and complete strangers. A very special thank you goes out to the Sartins who made all of it possible. From the beginning, the support has been phenomenal and we ask you to keep up the e-mails, phone calls, and prayers. They mean the world to us. It will definitely be paid forward.