Written July 2014
In the past month, so many people have graced us with their support and well wishes on the adoption of our child. I feel compelled to share our story as a testimony to God's grace and love. Faith is being certain of things unseen.
Upon leaving the hospital with Clay, I felt the need to write about the experience. So many emotions were flowing through my soul so, on June 24th I wrote this:
It is with joyful and FAITHFUL hearts that we introduce Clay David
Ellis. Our faith-filled journey to have
a family has been a long road with many mountains to climb along the way. We feel confident in sharing our story as God
truly does work in mysterious ways and we give all the glory and praise to Him!
After marriage four years ago, our first priority and “plan” was to
start a family. I use the word “plan”
lightly because God has shown us that it is HIS plan, not ours, that counts. Our
journey has seen every fertility treatment, test, surgery, and procedure that
modern medicine has to offer. Through
all the heartaches, bumps, and bruises, we never lost faith and our prayer
circles continued to grow. For all your
prayers and support, we are forever THANKFUL!
This past Christmas, Reba gathered our immediate family in a circle
and we prayed out loud for God to bless us with a child. Thus began our prayer
circles which then extended to family and friends. 2014 would be our year!
Instead of praying to have a child, David and I began our nightly prayers
thanking and praising God for the family we knew he would eventually bless us
with.
After one more try of IVF this past March, we were left with only one
frozen embryo which we had PLANNED to implant in late June. But, God’s plan is so much greater and
mysterious than ours! On the morning of
June 11th, 2014 we were presented with a glorious gift and
opportunity…we were told that there was a baby boy up for adoption in Arkansas and
he would be born in late June. While adoption
was in our future plans, it was not something we had seriously yet considered. My heart
immediately started to love this unborn child.
After some “quick” discussion and prayer, we knew this was God bestowing
His blessing upon us and the answer to our prayers. We worked feverishly night and day for the
next week to get everything in order so that we could be there for his
birth. It is AMAZING how everything fell
into place as it did. Ask any adoption
parent, agency, lawyer, social worker…this just doesn’t happen as easily and
seamlessly as it did for us! We were
preparing for his birth scheduled for June 27th and knew we had so
much to do in such little time…and yet again, God surprised us!
On the afternoon of June 21st, the birth mom’s water
broke…God threw us another curve ball!
We were sitting in Rockne. We had just shared our news with Granny &
Papa Tucker and Momma Jo. After getting
hugs from Dad, Mom and the Kings, we rushed back to Kyle, packed the car with
the few things we had already bought and headed for Fort Smith, AR. We were 8 hours away from seeing our new,
precious gift! But, GOD IS GOOD! Aunt
Rachel was working at the hospital and was able to be there for his birth and
received our little miracle! So amazing how God put everyone where he needed
them at the moment. David drove with
great focus and attention while I sat anxious and excited anticipating the birth
of our child.
Clay David Ellis took his first breath of life on Saturday, June 21st
at 8:09 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz., and
measured 18 inches in length. He was
healthy! All of our prayers had been
answered and we were forever changed. We
first met our lil’ guy on Sunday, June 22nd at 4:45 a.m. We were
blessed to have Rachel there along with wonderful nurses to care for him until
he could be in our arms. With sincerest
gratitude for all involved, we are now a HAPPY, HEALTHY, FOREVER family!
With love and joyuful hearts, -Raina & David
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares
the Lord…” Jeremiah 29:11
“Every good and perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights...” – James 1:17
