So in the middle of telling our story of surrogacy I also will be sharing recipes that I have tried and are super super good and easy! Also thoughts that I have found helpful in this crazy life. We have been trying to eat more healthy and incorporate fruits and veggies in our meals so this is an easy crock pot recipe I found and its easy and yummy:
4 bone in pork chops
1 can chicken broth (14 oz)
packet of onion soup mix
can of cream of chicken soup
garlic powder
packet of dry pork gravy mix
red potatoes
sprinkle the pork chops with garlic powder
in crock pot combine the soups, gravy mix and chicken broth
cut up 4-5 red potatoes and put in the crock pot
put pork chops on top of potatoes
cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours
easy, easy easy and sooooo tender and good!
Thought for the day:
"Don't shine so others can see you, SHINE so through you others can see HIM" -C.S Lewis
Just what I needed today. Two weeks ago a friend from high school passed away. She was 34 years old leaving behind another friend from high school who is her eternal partner and three beautiful children. On her last birthday she took the service challenge: for how many years you are turning on your birthday do that many number of random acts of kindness: note to a neighbor, flowers to a sick elderly person, cake to the fire station ect ect. Her family has set forth the challenge in her memory so I will be taking it and am challenging all of you: your bday month do that many random acts of kindness and take pics and track your progress with #turtlepower4Nat so her family can see how far reaching her incredible legacy has gone. Life is so fragile and short and we are all here on borrowed time....tell those you love you love them, spend time with those you love, fight less and hug more....I love you all and goodnight!!!!
Adventures in Paradise!!!
Friday, January 23, 2015
Sunday, January 18, 2015
My dreams
There are several things you have to understand about the surrogacy law in Utah you have to understand in order to understand why the process of choosing your surrogate is so important. In Utah the woman carrying the child has ALL say: at any time she could choose to go in and eliminate the pregnancy and you would have no say. Yes there is a legal contract but Utah is all about woman's rights. There is also a lengthy legal process: meetings with counselors, lots of doctors appts, lots of shots, a possible home study and a possible hearing. Now I know a lot about the process because I saw my sister go through it and I know that the shots are very painful. But it really really takes a very loving person to do this process. I wanted to be as involved as I possibly could be....for me this was going to be my pregnancy. We paid the fee and our lawyer sent us several profiles from his data base he thought we would be interested in. For us we knew we wanted someone with the same values as us.....prolife and someone who loved her family. I read through them and sent them on to Mark so he could read through as well.
I remember reading and rereading and there was one profile that when I read it I got goosebumps and I actually cried....this was her....this was the woman who I would entrust the life of our baby with. I felt an instant connection and this was just from the profile. I waited several days and fasted and prayed about it before Mark and I actually talked. He had chosen the same profile I did. It was in the days that followed that I realized that the darkest days, the sadness and empty feeling that had encompassed me when the doctor told me that I would never have children again was gone....the light had taken over. The pure love of God and I realized what I had always been told was indeed true and God did answer prayers. And while yes, this was just the start of a very long and emotional process for the first time in years I was filled with hope. I wasn't the broken woman anymore....I was worth something and while in the back of my mind I always knew this you don't go through what I had been through and not question your worth. But I had a man who loved me for me and who had adopted my girls and together we WOULD have children.
I remember reading and rereading and there was one profile that when I read it I got goosebumps and I actually cried....this was her....this was the woman who I would entrust the life of our baby with. I felt an instant connection and this was just from the profile. I waited several days and fasted and prayed about it before Mark and I actually talked. He had chosen the same profile I did. It was in the days that followed that I realized that the darkest days, the sadness and empty feeling that had encompassed me when the doctor told me that I would never have children again was gone....the light had taken over. The pure love of God and I realized what I had always been told was indeed true and God did answer prayers. And while yes, this was just the start of a very long and emotional process for the first time in years I was filled with hope. I wasn't the broken woman anymore....I was worth something and while in the back of my mind I always knew this you don't go through what I had been through and not question your worth. But I had a man who loved me for me and who had adopted my girls and together we WOULD have children.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
The begining
Ok in order to really do this correctly I need to really start at the very beginning. This is very emotional for me but a very important part of the story. At the age of 23 after complications and medical problems I was told I would never have children again and had a hysterectomy. This was such a heartbreaking moment in my life. I had dreams for years of being in a delivery room giving birth and I would catch myself touching my stomach earning to feel a baby move. After years of battling with bipolar in 2008 my first husband committed suicide. I had such mixed feelings and I felt confused as to where I wanted my life to go. In the spring things really turned around for me: I met the man who really is my better half. I don't know how to describe it but I do believe that God brought him into our lives to heal all of our broken hearts.
He accepted me and my past and loved the girls as his own. He lived in Idaho so we did the long distance relationship. He would come down to visit us when he could and we spent hours and hours on the phone. We had some amazing adventures together: Bear lake, lava hot springs, Oregon and a cruise. I did something that really scared me but I went back to school and got my first 4.0 and was on the deans list and finished my two year technical diploma and am now a Certified Para Optometric Technician! We went through several deployments together and in 2010 he was PCS'd to England.....this redefined long distance but we both wanted to see where our relationship would go. In 2011 we started to really really talk about our relationship and the one thing we both wanted: a baby....so we started to do research to see if this was a possibility. In the summer he came to Utah and we went together to Oregon for a family reunion and upon return he proposed and within 4 days we got married. Engaged on a Friday, married on a Monday and then he left to go back to England on a Friday. Before he left we went for an initial consultation at the University of Utah for gestational surrogacy.
I had two children that were genetically mine and so surrogacy would allow him a child that would be genetically his. With surrogacy there are two options in Utah: you go through an agency or do it on your own. If you go with an agency they handle all of the legal work and the screening that has to be done: but this is very very expensive. We found a lawyer who was able to have children because of a surrogate and because of this he has had women come to him with the desire to be surrogates. He then did a simple questionnaire with them and kept them in a data base for people like us. For a fee you have access to all of the profiles and based on this you pick one or two and he gets you in contact with them. From there you have to arrange and take care of the medical screening and all of the process that has to be done to make it a legal process. When choosing the woman who will be carrying your child for you it becomes such an emotional process....but exciting and spiritual as well.
He accepted me and my past and loved the girls as his own. He lived in Idaho so we did the long distance relationship. He would come down to visit us when he could and we spent hours and hours on the phone. We had some amazing adventures together: Bear lake, lava hot springs, Oregon and a cruise. I did something that really scared me but I went back to school and got my first 4.0 and was on the deans list and finished my two year technical diploma and am now a Certified Para Optometric Technician! We went through several deployments together and in 2010 he was PCS'd to England.....this redefined long distance but we both wanted to see where our relationship would go. In 2011 we started to really really talk about our relationship and the one thing we both wanted: a baby....so we started to do research to see if this was a possibility. In the summer he came to Utah and we went together to Oregon for a family reunion and upon return he proposed and within 4 days we got married. Engaged on a Friday, married on a Monday and then he left to go back to England on a Friday. Before he left we went for an initial consultation at the University of Utah for gestational surrogacy.
I had two children that were genetically mine and so surrogacy would allow him a child that would be genetically his. With surrogacy there are two options in Utah: you go through an agency or do it on your own. If you go with an agency they handle all of the legal work and the screening that has to be done: but this is very very expensive. We found a lawyer who was able to have children because of a surrogate and because of this he has had women come to him with the desire to be surrogates. He then did a simple questionnaire with them and kept them in a data base for people like us. For a fee you have access to all of the profiles and based on this you pick one or two and he gets you in contact with them. From there you have to arrange and take care of the medical screening and all of the process that has to be done to make it a legal process. When choosing the woman who will be carrying your child for you it becomes such an emotional process....but exciting and spiritual as well.
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