The morning that changed our lives.

It was a sunny, autumn Sunday morning here in Hagen, Germany. The date, November 22, 2009, still stands starred and circled in my calendar. I was hoping that it might be the day our lives would change forever.

Although we weren't officially "trying," as in charting and the whole works, we were leaving the conception of our little one in God's hands. Praying that He would open and close my womb according to His will. After going over countless scenarios in my head as to with month would work best, I finally gave up and realized I was trying to control a situation that I really don't have control over.

So, we woke up that morning, already planning to go to brunch. I conveniently planted the idea in John's head thinking that perhaps I would take a test and it would be a good way to celebrate. I struggled that morning though... do I just take the test or take the test with him? We had taken tests together before, and the let down after the build up was just more intensified.

I followed the directions, and hid the test so John wouldn't find it while he used the bathroom to get ready. Those minutes seemed like hours. I quickly got dressed and went back in to check the results. And.... there were TWO lines. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I almost ran out and told John immediately. Instead I spent the next minutes shaking with excitement and frantically writing up a card to give to John to open.

As we were getting ready to leave I asked him to go shut off the television, then I ran into our bedroom and laid the card inside of a Pampers wipe box that we conveniently already had. He came in, still confused and opened up the box to find the card and the test inside.

It took a couple of seconds to register, and then he exclaimed, "You're pregnant?!?!"

I responded with a quick "YES!" I think he said, "Are you serious?" And I said, "YES!" as he gave me a hug and a kiss. And then we took this picture:


Not a great picture, but I still love how it captures our little moment and all the emotions that ran along with it. Too excited to do a retake, off to brunch we went.

Downtown the Christmas market was set up, but not open. Inside the restaurant we took our sweet time, sampling nearly everything on the buffet line and dreaming about our future. A children's play area was nearby and I kept glancing over imagining our little one playing at the little table.



And one last picture of the proud dad-to-be, apparently captured before he had a chance to smile.