Judah's Love Story: Part III

Dustin and I met on a plane heading to Jamaica with some close friends for a destination wedding. He sat next to me on the plane. We had never met and I was smitten. He was such a sweetie and so handsome. We were only going to be in Jamaica for a long weekend. During that time we spent a lot of time together getting to know one another. Once we returned home shortly after, we started dating. We dated seven months and got engaged.

I had found my soul mate.

He was my best friend, the one I knew I could always depend on. We were married one year later in the fall. It was a beautiful day full of love, family and friends. He was everything I ever wanted and now I was going to get to spend the rest of my life with him. We had always wanted a family so we started trying right away. After trying for close to a year with no success we decided we should get things checked out with the doctor. Dustin was unable to go with me the day I had my tests done. It was a sad day. I was just told there was a possibility I may not be able to carry children. My heart was crushed.

Now came the even harder part, I had to call Dustin and inform him of the news. I called crying and Dustin stated very sweetly that it would all be okay. We have each other and that's all that matters and above all, nothing is impossible with God. We just need to pray and have faith in Him. He was right. He made me feel so much better about the situation. We took the doctors advice and decided to see a specialist.

The specialist informed us that I would require surgery, but thought we had a very good chance of becoming pregnant. So after my surgery was complete and I was healed we started the fertility treatments. We struggled for three long years going to countless doctor appointments, endless amounts of medications, injections and procedures. It was an emotional roller coaster ride filled with highs and lows. We had each other and that keep us going, but we were not equipt to handle it on our own. We had our faith, family and friends to help us a long the way. At one point I had enough. A dear friend said, " Don't worry, we just need to pray about it." In return I stated, "My knees are blue." Very soft and sweet she said, "When you can't, we can."

 I wept. 

I had just realized I was carrying all this weight on my shoulders and I didn't need to. My hope was stronger than my fear. Our desire to have a child was much greater than the fear of not trying. We were going to do whatever it took to have a baby. We went from one procedure to the next and yet nothing was working. Giving everything we had and praying one day we would have the family we always dreamed of. 

I needed a break. We chose to stop for a bit and amazingly on our own we became pregnant! Words can not describe our excitement. Shortly after a few weeks later I miscarried. We were heart broken. The Lord had gave us what we had always prayed for and took it away. We chose to praise Him in the mist of the storm. We took time for ourselves and in a few short months we were ready to try all over again. We wanted to try IVF one last time. This time it was much more invasive. Praying all would work out unfortunately again, it failed. This go around we had two embryos left over to freeze. Months later we were ready for one last final attempt. We implanted the two embryos and waited for some good news. The tests came back negative. I was numb. I cried so much I could hardly breath. My heart was broken and the I realized I had to call Dustin and break his heart too. We couldn't continue going through this again. The one thing that I wanted to give my husband most of all and I couldn't. I would wake up in the night crying and he would awake to comfort me. He was hurting too. Why were we being punished? 

Why wasn't it His plans for us?

We had so many questions. God had a plan and He knew all along how this story would play out. We knew God was testing our patience and our faith in Him. We grew closer to God and each other. It made our relationship even stronger. After a lot of thought and prayer we decided to start the adoption process. We were a family waiting in faith and by God's grace, we met Meagan. 

 

She was our answer to prayer. Meagan was searching for a loving couple to raise her unborn child. The first time we spoke on the phone felt as if we had known each other all our lives. We met that same week for dinner. We closed the place down. We all had talked for hours. The night we all met Dustin and I were so nervous and yet so overcome with excitement. She was all we could have asked for and more. She was sweet, kind, beautiful and most of all loving. She brought us and unbelievable surprise that night. She handed us the disk from her first ultrasound and we were all tears.

She believed with all her heart that we were what she was searching for. The loving couple she wanted for her precious unborn child. She asked us questions and the one most important to her was, "Do you believe in God and attend church?" We replied, "Absolutely!" We were so touched knowing that answer alone carried so much weight in her decision. She was choosing us to be her babies forever family. We were over the moon with excitement. We continued to stay in touch. We got together for dinner almost weekly. We had other special outings as well. We attended all of her doctor appointments with her and even got to go to see the ultrasounds. It was amazing. It was so much more that we ever dreamed we would get to experience. At her twenty week appointment the ultrasound revealed it was a boy! Meagan asked us what we were going to name him? We decided we wanted him to have a biblical name. Each night we would say our prayers asking God to help make our family more abundant and if He would we would give Him ALL the praise. We chose Judah. Judah means praise! Lane, his middle name means path. We praise the path God had made for us to be a family.     

  

I asked Meagan if she would allow us to have maternity pictures taken. She agreed and wanted this pregnancy to be as much as our pregnancy as it was hers. So thrilled I sent sent Sandy Clarke a message. The only thing was she was going to have to keep it a secret. Our families didn't know of Meagan or the baby at this point. We wanted this session to be even more special by having Meagan be a part of it. Not only did we want belly pictures but the chance for all of us to be a part of it. So that one day Judah could see the love we all shared for him. Our session was beautiful. The pictures that were taken that day exceeded all our expectations. We all shared our ideas and it worked out so wonderfully. We were so honored to have Sandy steal our most precious moments. That day together will be imprinted in our hearts forever. We share so much love for each other and its all captured on film. How special is that? We used those special memories we made to share our news with our families. We chose Thanksgiving Day as the time to reveal our secret. What a better day then the day of thanks. They could haven't been happier for us.

 

In a short time a little over a month later, Judah made his grade debut. He was beautifully and wonderfully made. We were so honored to be allowed in the labor and delivery room. Meagan asked Dustin to cut the cord. There were no dry eyes in the room. We had witnessed a miracle that day. In the mist of the excitement and happy tears we began hurting for Meagan. How do you thank someone for giving you so much? A gift that has so much meaning. It is indescribable. Meagan had carried Judah in her belly for nine months. She had made the most unselfish decision I could ever imagine. She chose life for him. It is the most ultimate act of love a mother can give. She wanted him to have the life he deserved. He was the greatest gift we had ever received. Our love for him was immeasurable. We feel in love even more with Meagan's undeniable strength, unselfish compassion and trusting ways. 

 

We knew we wanted Judah to have a life knowing who his birth mom was and how much she cared for him. She was giving us the world and we wanted to share our love with her. The adoption was finalized. We are all doing great. We stay in touch and send pictures. We fill Meagan in on Judah's milestones he reaches and how much he is changing. We would never regret our decision to adopt. God lead us down this path and enriched all our lives. Judah has brought so much joy to us. His smile and laughter brighten our days. Even all the sleepless nights are worth every waking moment. We truly are blessed. God has made us a family and we are forever grateful. In closing we wanted to say we hope we have touched others with our story and maybe opened other couples minds about adoption. If conceiving our own child would have meant not having Judah than we are thankful for all the unanswered prayers. 

 

Judah is our true meaning of love for one another. 

With all our love, 

Tiffany and Dustin Davis

  Precious Judah today

**I personally would like to thank these two families for opening up their lives to all of us on their personal journey's with adoption. I know it took a lot to put their stories on paper and the vulnerability that comes along with putting it out there for all to see. I have seen nothing but amazing gratitude towards so many of you and I've passed them all on to the families in case they missed them or it was sent through message, so that one day, maybe Judah can see what kind of an impact HIS story had on so many people. I plan on gathering up all comments, messages, emails, and posts about their sweet story and I'm going to be giving this to the family so that one day Judah will be able to enjoy them all as well, so feel free to comment, message me, or send me an email and I will be sure to pass them all on! I know they appreciate every single comment made....because they've told me so! My wish for you, is for a better awareness about adoption and the possibilities it has for those precious unborn children. Thank you for spending this time reading Judah's Love Story.  - Sandy Clarke Photography