What a difference a year makes!

I've been thinking a lot lately of where we were at a year ago.... devastated by the loss of our first child and desperately trying to get pregnant again. We had the loss September 1st of 2008 and by the time April 2009 came around I had begun to feel like I would never get pregnant again. We were worried that there might be something wrong with me, such as endometriosis, which can cause you to either not get pregnant at all or to lose a baby early in pregnancy due to improper implantation. There's no test for endometriosis, the only way to know if you have it or not is to have laparoscopic surgery to get in there and look - my doctor had recommended this to us and I actually had a surgery scheduled and on the calendar for late May 2009. It was in the end of April that I had finally, truly, given this up to God and had relaxed a little. I prayed and prayed every day for Him to bless us with another pregnancy, and one that would end with a healthy child 9 months later. It was during one of my prayers in April that God spoke back to me. I'm not saying I heard something audible, but I got back a resounding "Trust Me" in my head. It was pretty amazing. In mid May I went to my church's women's retreat with my Mom at Mt. Hermon. We're put in small groups for the weekend to study the bible, discuss issues and make prayer requests. I had a very tearful conversation with my group about my loss and the yearning I had to be a mommy, I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Many women prayed for me that weekend. My "monthly visitor" was actually due that weekend and I had my Mom asking me every few hours if it had arrived, which it hadn't. I thought God was doing me a favor by setting it back a few days so I could enjoy the retreat without it and not have that pang of sadness that came every month along with it. I truly didn't think I was pregnant - so much so, that I actually went on their amazing zip line course that's prohibited for pregnant women (very tight gear across the lower torso/ abdomen). The very next day after we got back from the retreat I had my pre-op appt at my doctor's office. They gave me a pregnancy test, as required before performing the surgery. The doctor came back in the room with the BEST news - that they would be canceling my surgery because I was pregnant!! You all know how that pregnancy ended, with our beautiful son, Hunter, and that's where the title of my blog came from - because GREAT is His faithfulness. I do often think of my angel baby, but I know he/she is in heaven and that is of great comfort. And now I have the most wonderful baby boy that I can't imagine life without. I will be having an extra special Mother's day this year! =)