Our Journey to YES - part 2

Friday, June 17, 2011

read part 1 here

....but then my friend Shelley had a beautiful baby boy.

RJ and I met Shelley and Jeremiah on a short-term missionary trip to Scotland. RJ and I had only been dating about 6 months but we knew marriage was somewhere on the horizon; and when we got married we wanted to be just like our new friends.  About eight years older than us Shelley and Jeremiah lived a lifestyle that RJ and I greatly admired. They had been married for at least five years at that point, had traveled the world for an entire year together, owned a cute little house in Los Osos, worked good jobs, surfed together continuously, took fun, adventures vacations, and they loved the Lord and each other. So a few months after our wedding (which they were an important part of) we were a bit surprised when they announced their pregnancy. We knew they wanted children at some point, but we couldn't quite believe our crazy friends were about to "settle down". (We were wrong by the way. Children did not keep them from continuing to pursue an adventurous lifestyle.)

Then I met Owen, and it all clicked. Born weeks premature little Owen with just a teeny, tiny bundle of love. I remember standing over him in the NICU feeling my heart turn to mush inside my chest - what a beautiful little miracle. My maternal instinct suddenly kicked in, and I knew those hypothetical two kids weren't hypothetical anymore. Someday, I wanted to be someones Mama.

But it wasn't our time yet. RJ and I had things to do! We still had to graduate from college (we were married young!) and, thanks to a generous gift from a grandparent, we had a three month travel trip planned. Our trip was set to end in November of 2005 and after that the world was our oyster. No jobs lined up, no place to live. Just a big, blank slate waiting to be filled.

To be continued

3 comments:

Jessica G. said...

A short term missions trip to Scotland? I may need to hear more about that trip later. Like, where did you guys go? You see, I never paid any attention to Scotland until we moved there. Now that place takes up a huge portion of my heart.

Linda Z said...

I remember when little Owen was born and I went to visit Shelley in the hospital. Her maternal instinct was already in high gear! She was such a wonderful mom right of the bat!! :)

Jess Roy said...

I LOVE these stories!

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