Another Special Valentines

I love roses, and the kids set a beautiful table with our wedding china.

Emily hard at work in the kitchen preparing baked potatoes

and salad.

What a cutie delivering the delicious bread and baked potatoes.

J.Michael bringing us those juicy grass-fed steaks from the

Davis Ranch. Below Emily our food photographer snapped

this mouth-watering picture for us...I am getting hungry as

I type.

Ahhhh! Hard work has it's advantages...ice cream!!

Clean-up crew. Sweet little Kathlena working hard to "do duh dishes"

Behind the scenes...Daddy helped J.Michael grill the steaks; he is interning to be a master griller like his Daddy.

Mom finishing up the fresh baked homemade bread.

Kathlena was ready to eat some bread...almost time.

This is our freshly ground spelt/prairie gold whole wheat bread made from scratch...mmm good.

We had a very special evening that all four of our precious children worked so hard to give us. Andrew had so much fun. He really liked dressing up and bringing us our courses. J.Michael had us rigged up with communicator watches so we could call on them if we needed anything. It was a full course meal of homemade bread, salad, steak and baked potatoes, ice cream dessert and coffee. Thank you for making a very special dinner for us.

Last year we only dreamed of Andrew and Kathlena and what they would be like as we were awaiting news of travel dates and preparing to leave to see them for the first time. Wow...and here we are one year later with them actively participating in our Valentine tradition.

This Valentine, like the last, ended in great expectation of what this year will bring. Today we found out that there will be another Shiflet addition...arriving around mid Oct. Yes, that is right, we are pregnant!!! I am so humbled by God's mercy and grace on us. I took the test this morning and waited until dessert to give David his card that included the pregnancy test stick. He was so excited and surprised!!

Our story is not like most who adopt. We actually brought our infertility on ourselves. Six years ago we decided we had our two blessings and that was enough so we told the Lord..."no thank you" to more blessings. Even as we decided to have a vasectomy, we talked of adoption if we should change our minds about having more children. Sadly, I must say in all of this decision-making process we did not search the scriptures for our answers, but listened to man's wisdom and the pride of our own hearts. In the Lord's mercy, He granted us our desire to adopt giving us a fresh perspective of His amazing love and redemption. As we neared the completion of our adoption, our thoughts began to turn towards thoughts of more children. My first thoughts were yes we will adopt again (and I still pray this to be so). We also had to face the reality of what we had stolen from the Lord. Long ago we had been told that the type of vasectomy David had was not likely to be reversed. We believed this doctor and pursued no others as we were set on adoption anyway. Between our first and second trips to Russia, providentially, I came across some information about a surgeon in Oklahoma who specializes in vas reversals. We contacted him honestly expecting to hear the same news as the first doctor that it would not likely be reversed successfully. We were shocked to find out that Dr. Wilson routinely reverses the type of vas David had and that Dr. Wilson specializing in micro surgery gave us a very good probability of pregnancy. With this news we became convicted that even if we never became pregnant that the Lord had given us this opportunity to "undo" giving restitution for what we had taken from Him. We received this news shortly before we received our court date to go and get Andrew and Kathlena. We were elated and overwhelmed by the completion of our adoption and the hope of the new path that the Lord was leading us to.

Once we felt that Andrew and Kathlena were settled, then our thoughts returned to this opportunity to have the reversal procedure. While I was (still am) ready to adopt again, I had to face my own pride and relinquish control in the area of how the Lord would bless us with children. For me to say "Lord, please bless us with more...but, only through adoption", was still not submitting. We repented to the Lord of what we had stolen from Him and prayed for mercy and grace to receive His blessing of more children through birth and/or adoption or to be content with the four precious gifts we have now.

On Dec. 29th all six of us made the trip to Muskogee, OK and David had his vas reversal surgery. Dr. Wilson is an amazing Christian man and surgeon. We could not more highly recommend him. He is unique in that he gave up a thriving surgical career on principle. In good conscience he could no longer take insurance money from companies that contributed and supported abortion. Within 3 months his practice was dried up. Being a man of faith he trusted the Lord to give him wisdom so, he decided to learn how to do micro-surgical vas reversals. He began his practice 3yrs ago. He does 9 procedures a week and accepts cash only. His fees are very reasonable and he is very well organized.

From his own statistics his patients have a 75% pregnancy rate, higher or lower depending on how long since the original vasectomy. We did the calculations, and based on his rate of 9 reversals per week, over 250 souls conceived every year because of his work. The numbers become staggering when you think of the impact for generations. I would say that is kingdom-minded work! He is a man of great integrity who stood up against big medicine and said "As for me and my household we will serve the Lord" . When I think of modern day heroes, Dr. David Wilson will stand tall among them.

"For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed. 1 Peter 3:12-14

We covet your prayers for 2009 will bring it's challenges, but once again we look forward to the hope the Lord has placed in our hearts for the blessing of shepherding another child and raising him/her to love and serve the one true and almighty God that has made this all possible.