Teddy Burriss

I am sharing this story with you as it was told to me.

As I drove to work this morning the emotion of what has occurred over the past few weeks got the best of me. God obviously has a role for me beyond what I believed yesterday. It was hard to hold back the tears, but I choked on them and focused as best I could on driving as the events of the past few weeks flooded my mind.

On Thanksgiving day, as my mother-in-law sat in the family room, my wife beckoned to me to come into the bathroom. A little strange, however her face told me something serious was up.

I walked into the room, she closed the door. Something was wrong, or at least that’s what jumped into my mind at that moment.

My wife hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, “Honey, we’re pregnant.” She held up the pregnancy stick thing with the big blue dot on it. We hugged tighter and congratulated ourselves, quietly.

This may have been my first tear of the next few weeks.

We have a 9 year old daughter and for nearly 5 years we have been trying to have another baby. Not sure why we could not get pregnant, we also applied to adopt about 3 years ago. All of our hoping, praying, testing and doctor visits had been for naught.

Hoping for a pregnancy or an adoption for so long can wear you out emotionally and spiritually.

But hopefully, this pregnancy will be the answer to our prayers. Thank you God!!

We decided to not tell anyone until after visiting the doctor. The smiles on our faces the next few days were broader and sweeter than normal.

The Thanksgiving holiday was great and my wife and I were still giddy with excitement the entire 48 hours of holiday.

That Saturday the excitement disappeared in a heart beat.

Late Saturday afternoon my wife began to miscarry. We knew it immediately. This has happened many times before.

In the privacy of our home we wept together again, this time sorrowful tears that hurt more than ever. We used our love and faith to accept that there is a reason for this happening, however the pain was so great that every tick of the clock hurt as we sat together on the bed quietly asking ourselves and God, “When will we have another child?”

My wife visited the Doctor’s office early the next week and through out the entire week we said very little about our hopes for another baby or the deep pain we both had for yet another lost chance.

The next weekend my wife and I sat again and talked about our hopes and dreams of another child. We talked and wept together, knowing that not only did we want another child to love and care for, but our daughter wanted a brother or sister to share her life with. Each thought of our lost dreams caused more and more unbearable pain.

We wondered if it was because of our ages. Could it be that God did not want us to have children at our age? Were we trying to hard? Not hard enough? Did we do something wrong and this was punishment for our sins?

We sat together for hours talking, offering each other possible answers and ideas of what to do at this point.

It hurt to make the decision we made that night, but we decided that it was time to stop. Stop dreaming and hoping. Stop spending so much energy and emotion chasing a dream that obviously would never come true.

We were united in our decision, however the emotion of our decision was immense. This was a life altering decision that we both knew would change our lives, our family and our relationship for ever. Yet, there was no turning back. We completely agreed.

That Sunday was a normal day in our house. We ran the errands, watched the football games and shared the meals together with our daughter. With the decision behind us by less than a day, our lives were back to normal. Yet we both knew, something was missing, and we had accepted, would always be missing in our life.

Acceptance can be painful, however I hoped, and am sure my wife did as well, that as long as we accepted together, all would be good, eventually.

The weekend came and went. Monday was a typical work day. We both immersed ourselves into our jobs as we tried to put behind us the pain of the previous week and our final decision on having or adopting another child.

Little did we know what was in store for us next.

At 4 in the afternoon my wife got “The Phone Call” – Oh My God!

The adoption agency wanted us to come to the hospital immediately. A four day old infant needed a family and this child was an exact match to our profile.

There are lots of emotional details that I can’t tell you because of adoption agency policy; however we were chosen to become the foster parents with the plan to adopt a 4 day old baby that needs us in the worst way.

My wife and I cried as we drove to the hospital. We met with the nurses and adoption agency staff and it all came together in less than a few hours.

They loaded up our car with the essentials that an infant and new parents would need and sent us home.

We arrived home with our baby and once we got into the house we looked at each other and simultaneously realized what was going on.

Believe in miracles if you can, they do happen.

Believe that God has some form of a plan for us, because many times our life changes for reasons beyond our control or understanding.

Believe that you have a purpose in life and it is possible that you have not been told what it is yet.

Believe that there is someone, (or will be someone) on this earth who needs your help and love.

Believe that your life will be changed and in doing so, enriched by the sudden involvement of another person (or child).

Always Believe that there is a reason and that one day it may make sense. Don’t try to force or make up an answer yourself. This will not work. The reasons and answers will come, when God feels the time is right.

On this Tuesday morning, our baby now asleep, my wife hugged me again and whispered into my ear. “Honey, God delivered our baby today.” Tears rolled down our faces as we hugged and quietly said, “Thank you God.

We believe

Another story, this time brought to you by Teddy, but originally from a friend. I hope you enjoyed it.