14 July/August 2019
Meeting the love of my life so young taught me
much more than imaginable. I stepped outside
of myself to love and cherish another while peers
were still going to parties, forgetting their names,
and hooking up. My best friend will become my
husband when most people couldn’t envision
dedicating themselves to only one person for a
lifetime. My gratitude to God for allowing me this
opportunity is everlasting. And here we are, now,
starting a family at twenty-one.Is this scary? Yes.But scary doesn’t mean wrong. Steven and I are
preparing to bring our son into the world. We
will teach him that God is love. He will learn that
everything leading to this point in our lives was
meant to happen, so he could exist now.Who am I to say that the baby growing inside me
shouldn’t be born? I don’t know God’s plans for
his life. Our son could grow up and meet people
who will alter his life at the exact time he’s intend-
ed to walk these paths. I can only anticipate the
beautiful impact our son’s life will have on this
world. He deserves to exist as much as you and I.So, no, I am not really all that scared.Our second trimester was amazing. Between the
constant exhaustion and my need to eat any and
all food set before me, we found out the gender.
Steven and I had read that the gender could be
revealed as early as fifteen weeks, so at our fif-
teen-week appointment, we waited eagerly for the
doctor to pull out an ultrasound machine and give
us the news. What we didn’t expect was to be told
that no, we would not be seeing the gender today
or any day, at least not at that facility.Feeling deflated, we desperately tried to figure out
a way to find out. Within an hour of leaving the
appointment, we found a studio close to home
that did “sneak peek” gender reveals as early as
fifteen weeks. We called, got an appointment that
afternoon, and drove right over. Soon I was lying
on an examining table, facing a huge TV. Steven
sat beside me and held my hand in his.Steven’s eyes filled with tears and he began kissing my hand and
laughing with excitement as he said, “We’re having a baby boy.”