Our First Snow Day!

We got to enjoy our first snow day in Virginia! We are so grateful that people had helped us gather snow gear for the kids; everyone kept saying we would want to have it on hand, just in case. And they were right! Little kids in big snow jackets and snow boots...I'm 100% here for it! :)

It snowed for most of the morning, but we weren't sure how much would stick since it didn't seem quite cold enough. But as we got closer to lunch time, it seemed to stick around a little more...enough for our Texas kiddos to enjoy playing in!

We do need to get the kiddos some gloves. They have the soft cotton ones, but those don't work well for the snow. So aside from their hands getting cold, they seemed to enjoy playing in the snow. We look forward to enjoying more snow in Virginia!

Christmas Bucket List :: Make Paper Snowflakes

Since we don't have our Christmas decorations this year, I decided to make a few of our own! This might have been a little overly ambitious on Mommy's part {my kids don't really know how to use scissors yet...so why did I think they could cut out snowflakes??} Turns out, even the blunt kid scissors can be fairly dangerous, so maybe we'll tackle that skill a little later...like when I can have more adults around to guard eyeballs. I am happy to report that everyone still has all of their fingers {and eyeballs}.

While the actual making of the snowflakes presented a bit of a challenge, the kids LOVED putting the snowflakes up on the window in our hotel room. They were so excited to show Daddy their fun snowflake surprise :)

The Beauty of a Snowflake

Our agency asked if we would be willing to share our embryo adoption story with prospective families. We love getting to share about the amazing way the Lord formed our family, so we were more than willing to share!

They have posted our story on their website, and I also wanted to provide that here. We hope that our story can help encourage others as they pursue God's plan for their family. And ultimately, we want others to know how great our gracious God is. 

“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.”

– Anonymous

The day we were diagnosed with infertility (and given very few fertility options) was such a dark day for us. In an instant, our dreams of becoming parents to genetic children vanished, and we felt so overwhelmed with that loss. While we were heartbroken and frustrated that we were given so few options, we see now how God was preparing our hearts for the family He had always intended for us.

Early in our research, we had come across the beautiful option of embryo adoption. The fact that you could carry and give birth to your adopted child seemed like such an amazing thing! So when we were faced with the reality that we would not have our own genetic children, we knew that embryo adoption was something we wanted to pursue.

We didn’t really know where to start in the process, so we knew we would need some guidance. We chose the Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program, because they pioneered the process, and we wanted to partner with an agency that would uphold a high value on life. We are so grateful for our relationship with them. In each step of the process, we felt confirmation about our decision to pursue embryo adoption.

While we knew this was the path to a family we wanted to pursue, it was not without its own set of heartaches and struggles. We initially matched with a sweet donor family in our home state. We gave all the adopted embryos a chance at life, but unfortunately, we did not have a successful pregnancy. We were once again left heartbroken and frustrated, wondering if we would ever have children.

Nightlight was kind and gracious through the whole process. We did decide to rematch with another family, and soon we adopted more embryos. We welcomed our first 2 snowflake babies in November of 2016, boy/girl twins! They are our rainbow babies, the beauty of God’s faithfulness after the storm.

We transferred another embryo in November 2017, but unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to that sweet little one. We tried again with our last embryo, and we welcomed our third snowflake baby in August of 2018! He is such a blessing and joy to us, and we love the fact that all 3 of our snowflake babies are full genetic siblings.

We will forever be thankful for embryo adoption because through it, we got to experience pregnancy and become parents. There will never be enough words of gratitude to express to the donor families for the gifts they provided to us by making the decision to donate their embryos and entrust us with their care. It is incredible to me how God was preparing our family, even way back in 2007 (when our first embryos were frozen), and then again in 2009 (when our second set of embryos was frozen). How He led my husband and me to each other, walked with us in our road of infertility, and led us to pursue embryo adoption. He allowed us to skip all other fertility options so that we would discover and then choose this unique path to growing our family. I believe this is part of the reason we had to walk the road of infertility- because God always intended us to be the parents of these precious little ones. We had to stand out in the cold for a bit so we could stand back now and be amazed at the beauty of the family God created for us.

Wishing for Snow

There was talk that we would get some snow just after the start of the new year...but it was just that: talk. It got cold, and we had some drizzle, but no snow. Not even a little.

I don't usually love the snow, mostly because I don't love the cold. But I do think that Eli and Maddie would think it's pretty fun, so we have been wishing for a little bit of snow around here! We started filling the inside of our home with all things snow, and then this past weekend, we actually got a little bit of real snow! :)

Snowman Sticker Art

I found these cute snowmen stickers in the Dollar Spot at Target {Target for the win!}. Eli and Maddie are still too young to fully grasp the concept of building snowmen with stickers; they like sticking the stickers on the paper...and then ripping them off. So it at least distracted them for a few minutes. Every time I tried to show them how to "build" a snowman, they would have none of it. Oh well. Maybe they're going to be the next Picassos :)

Snow Day Book

I found this cute little Charlie Brown book {again} in the Dollar Spot at Target and Eli and Maddie LOVE it. Seriously. I had hoped to put it away with the Christmas things, but they ask for this {and a Christmas Mickey Mouse book} every day. So we read it ALL the time!

Snowflake Window Clings

Since Eli and Maddie like putting stickers on paper and then promptly taking them back off, I decided they might like some window clings. I bought them an "Under the Sea" set that they loved; it actually has kept them occupied way longer than I expected. And then I bought them some snowflakes...because they are my little snowflakes, and these are prettier than starfish and whales :)

Snowman Bowling

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest {where else?} and decided to give it a try. Eli and Maddie have started throwing their toys {because why not?}, so I am trying to re-direct that energy to appropriate tossing/throwing activities. We'll see if this helps or hurts :)

I made a super simple version: I just used Sharpie markers to draw snowman faces on styrofoam cups and rolled up a couple of pairs of socks for the "snowball." Limited effort and my kiddos LOVED it!

So the snowmen were cute and all...but next time I won't even spend the time drawing the snowman faces on the cups. Because when they were done "bowling," they just wanted to stack and then tear the cups apart. Oh well.

A Dusting of Snow

After all the wishing for snow, we actually got a tiny bit of real snow this weekend! It was cold enough to stick around for the day, but it wasn't a huge amount. But enough for Eli and Maddie to notice, for sure. We actually went out that day to pick up Eli's new glasses, see a model train exhibit, and go to lunch with Granny. But it was so cold and windy, Mama was our little ones were NOT interested in being outside for any length of time. So we just looked at it through the window haha. We'll have to actually play in the snow another time :)

-------

I have a few other snow related activities I'd like to do with them, so we'll see how those go and if we get some more snow this winter. Hopefully we can get a little more snow {and it not be so windy} so we can actually go out and play in it! 

496, 497, 604

I have talked before about how our babies are called Snowflake Babies. The agency that we worked with to find our embryos is called Snowflakes Embryo Adoption, and they are the ones who initially coined the term "snowflakes" for adopted embryos. I have always loved snowflakes {and even collect snowflake Christmas ornaments}, so calling our babies Snowflakes is special and sweet to me.

Our agency keeps track of each of its Snowflake Babies, and they send a small gift whenever a new baby is born. So I love that each of my babies has a special snowflake onesie with their specific number on it! These numbers may seem random to most people, but to us, they are so special and unique. They represent our precious babies, 3 of hundreds of other Snowflake Babies whom the Lord has granted the gift of life.

#496 and #497 :: Elijah Winn and Madeline Grace

Eli and Maddie at 6 months

#604 :: Aiden Michael

Aiden at 4 months...wearing the 6 month onesie :)

Embryo Adoption Awareness Day

November is National Adoption Month. Of course, Embryo Adoption is near and dear to our hearts, as we have been blessed with 3 beautiful snowflake babies. We love sharing about this option, and I love that we have a specific day to help raise awareness!

For some general facts, you can read my post here. And for some information regarding donation, you can read my post here. I thought that this year I would share some of the numbers related to Embryo Adoption. 

• There are over 600,000+ embryos in frozen storage*
• Over 7,000 babies have been born through Embryo Adoption/Donation
• Embryo Adoption is available in all 50 states
• The success rate of Embryo Adoption averages 44%
• The average number of transfers to achieve a successful pregnancy is 3
• Up to 50% of donated embryos were created using donor egg or sperm
• The oldest recorded frozen embryo to result in a healthy baby is 24 years
• The average cost of Embryo Adoption is $14,000 for one attempt at pregnancy

There are many ways to build a family. Whether you choose one of the varying fertility treatments or to walk the road of adoption, many of these options are not inexpensive. One of the advantages of Embryo Adoption is that it is actually a more cost effective way to build a family. To be clear, I am not advocating for the "cheapest" way to adopt. But many people are not aware that it can sometimes be a more affordable option.

To provide some perspective on varying fertility and adoption options, I have listed some cost estimates below:

• Sperm Donation $250 to $1,000
• Egg Donation {fresh eggs, never frozen} $20,000 to $45,000
• Frozen eggs $16,000 to $20,000
• Surrogacy $75,000 to $150,000
• Domestic Infant Adoption $25,000 to $30,000
• International Adoption $25,000 to $50,000
• Frozen Embryo Adoption {agency} $12,000 to $15,000
• Frozen Embryo Donation {clinic} $4,000 to $8,000
• U.S Foster Adoption $1,500 to $3,000

It is illegal to sell embryos, but there are costs associated with embryo adoption/donation. Some of these costs are for administrative services, legal contracts, embryo shipment, transfer fees, lab/embryology fees, etc. If you choose to use an agency {like we did}, there are also costs for home studies, matching services, etc.

While Embryo Adoption is not an inexpensive option, we {obviously} believe it is worth every penny we spent. We are incredibly thankful for this amazing option, and we are so humbled and blessed by the success we had with the process.

-------

*though not all of these are available for adoption, as many families choose not to donate

- Facts from the Embryo Adoption Awareness Center