From the valley to the mountain top

With 2012 here, I wanted to take a moment to go through 2011 and acknowledge all that I've been through and say GOODBYE to all the pain and heartache! So, here we go.

• January-- Luke and I discussed going to the doctor after unsuccessfully conceiving on our own after 6 months. 
• February-- I had my first gynecologist appointment, and the doctor put me on Provera to hopefully start ovulation.
• March-- I lost my friend Loren in Afghanistan.  He was fighting for our country.
• April-- The elderly grandparents of a fellow Evangel student was murdered, and I spent the entire month freaking out about the possibility of someone breaking into our house and killing us.  Also, I was having major hormonal changes due to the Provera I started two months prior.a
• May-- I graduated from Evangel University with an Associates in Intercultural Studies, and I found out that I have PCOS.
• June-- Luke and I decided to persue adoption rather than stress over having our own child.
• July-- We were accepted as potential adoptive parents at the private adoption agency, but we declined because I was not ready to give up my dream of having my own child. 
• August-- I quit my job as a CNA at Integrity Home Care in order to open up an in-home daycare .  Luke and I also took a sabbatical from ministry.
• September-- Luke and I celebrated our two year anniversary and resigned our positions as youth pastor and worship leader.
• October-- We found out that our infertility journey has a new dynamic.  My husband also has male factor infertility and there was nothing his doctor could do for him.
• November--My gynecologist said, "There's nothing else we can do for you " and he referred us to a fertility specialist in Kansas City. 
• December-- We began filing out paperwork for a consultation visit at the Reproductive Resource Center in Kansas City to talk about doing IVF (in-vitro) in 2012.  I was 5 days late for my period, and I thought I might be miraculously pregnant.  Wrong!

I've always heard, "once you're down, there's no where else to go but up!"  How true is that!?!?  I choose to think of that saying and compare it to 2011.  

2011 was my valley.  The lowest I've been in my life.  Despite all the bad news we've received this year, I know that our mountain top is coming.  It has to be.  There is no where else to go but up, and I rejoice in that!  2012 will be a new beginning for me, and I am so thankful!

             I pray blessings for each of you in this new year!  

                                   ~*Alicia Marie*~