Our journey to southeast Asia has been full of the unexpected. This month has been no different. We’ve wished and hoped that God would allow us to be ready to move, yet He had a different plan. As the first part of the year approached, the time we’d been hoping would see us packing suitcases and catching airplanes, we felt sure that God was doing something big in our midst. And He was! Just not quite what we were expecting…

For quite awhile now we have planned on working with one particular organization upon arrival in country. While we are serving with our long-term organization (Pioneers), we planned to work with a local project who is committed to church planting in southeast Asia while addressing the realities of human-trafficking in that context. Their foundation would be providing our visas, and their staff would be our team. Due to some structural changes within the project they are no longer able to provide our visas, so we had to find another solution.

If you’ve heard us talk at all about what God is calling us to Thailand to do, you would know that we have not felt equipped and ready to start a new ministry on our own yet. We deeply desire to learn from those who have more experience in southeast Asian church planting, and anti-human trafficking work. We felt that down the road God would call us to start something new in an under-resourced part of the country, but that has felt far-off, a vision we hoped God would develop but had no idea if and when He would.

Another unique part of our team is that, in very different ways, God called both our family, and Marie’s brother and his family, to the same ministry in the same location. We couldn’t be more excited! Through a few twists and turns in the last couple months, God has made it abundantly clear that so many of the things we’d put off in our minds till “later” are in fact what He has for us now. While we’re still planning on spending our first years on the field learning from those more experienced than ourselves, we’ve also formed our own team, and have applied for visas under a different foundation. We’ve spent hours praying through and putting together project proposals and paperwork.

Our long term goals and vision haven’t changed. We’re committed to making disciples and seeing churches planted in the context of fighting human trafficking in southeast Asia. We’ve spent the last month identifying and articulating various components to our long-term ministry ideals. Its thrilling to be at this point of putting into place so many of the things we’ve talked about, prayed through, and dreamed of for years. And there are no words to describe how anxious and excited we are for the next chapter in our story to start!

Yet, I also imagine the amazing parts. Like, did you feel God cradling you safely inside when your water wasn’t there to cushion you anymore? Could you sense Him sweetly and securely sealing the bag back up so the water could replenish? Was His voice audible to you, dear one, as He continued to speak life into you? How I wish for your sake that you could remember what it was like…though only the good parts… as you encountered the Creator that day.

I remember what it was like out here, and what a year it has been. Your miracle day was wonderful and yet so full of the hard, that I had to choose to remember the miracle. There were still so many unknowns, and uncertainty abounded in every direction. We had no idea what to expect, we just knew that for now, God had chosen to spare your life.

You went on to defy every odd and didn’t even come early. You were fully developed, so healthy, and absolutely wonderful, when you joined us on the outside back in June. And you’ve been blazing your own trail ever since.

These last 6 months have been more than any of us dreamed possible. You started crawling and cutting teeth at 4 months. By 5 months you’d decided that pulling up and walking around furniture was your favorite pastime. We’re really praying you don’t decide that 6 months is a good age to start jogging. 😉

Your life is a miracle because God CREATED you. He imagined you and He gave you to us to enjoy for awhile. We celebrate the miracle of life absolutely every day that we get to hear your giggle, princess. But today, we celebrate God’s extravagant miracle, in giving us the gift of your life when we were sure it was gone. We give Him the glory for keeping you safe despite Mommy’s less than perfect protection. We praise Him for His goodness to intervene in a situation where we have no power. And we proclaim God’s infinite power, and deep abiding love.

That Tuesday a year ago, God gave us the gift of your life. That Christmas over 2000 years ago, God gave us the gift of Jesus. Immanuel, God with us. And praise the Lord, you are too.

This year has been unbelievably full with so many wonderful things! Through newsletter snippets, and social media posts, lets recap all that has happened.

1/22/16

So looking forward to getting HOME!
Our biggest news we are thrilled to share is that God has miraculously sustained the life of our precious baby, and for two whole weeks now there has been NO bleeding or leaking of any kind! The large blood clot in Marie’s uterus was passed two weeks ago (surprising us all!) and things have only gotten better since. This last Tuesday evening when we went in for a follow-up ultrasound, the tech placed the probe on Marie’s stomach and immediately exclaimed, “Wow!” We all held our breath for a minute hoping it was a good, “wow.”  There is no more clot or bleeding, the womb has tightened back up to support baby as it should, and we are cleared to look into flights home within a couple of weeks.

As our 1 week of “vision trip” here in Thailand has extended to 7 weeks, we have had the opportunity to get to know the ministry in a whole new way. It has been a joy to serve in small ways, get to know the girls, pray for situations as they come up, and see the project from a multitude of angles. Even in this, God has continued to show us that He has a purpose for us being here longer than we expected.

We have also enjoyed magnificent amounts of family time! When we are home in our routines, Chris works all day of course. Lincoln has thoroughly enjoyed having Dad around at all hours of the day and we are so grateful for this extended time together.

2/3/16

God has sustained us through so much, and we have safely made it back to our home in South Carolina! Late last week we “snuck” back to this side of the globe to surprise Marie’s siblings by joining in the festivities as her brother, Luke, proposed to our new sister, Kim. This God ordained timing also allowed us to spend the weekend with Chris’ parents, here from Italy! As if all that is not enough, we were also able to celebrate Lincoln’s 1st birthday with BOTH sides of the family.

2/6/16

“Fain family Christmas!!! It was SO fun to finally get to celebrate with alllll the traditions and family time. Yes, we realize it’s February, and yes we LOVED finally getting our Christmas. Thanks to a wonderful family for waiting till we could get home to celebrate!”

In March we celebrated Easter, and the fact that we had made it well into the 3rd trimester: a feat no one had expected! At that point all we knew was that we had prayed our way through till 28 weeks, then to 30, and even to 32 whole weeks of keeping baby safe on the inside! God’s grace overwhelmed us yet again. And April brought an even bigger celebration when we realized we had made it to 35 weeks when doctors had been convinced we wouldn’t make it past 20 weeks.

“Can’t believe #babyvictory has already made it to 35 weeks! Figured it was probably time to get the essentials ready, so we have clean burp cloths, socks, blankets, and towels all ready for you kiddo! Not to mention your cozy cradle and teensy tiny diapers.😊 We love you baby cakes and the sooner you decide to get your little head down where it belongs, the better. Please and thank you!”

May was a month full of prayers yet again as we waited for Elaina to decide she was going to turn around. Endless exercises, contortions, appointments, and hoping finally got her out of breach position at 39 weeks. And then of course, she breezed right past her due date (after convincing everyone she’d be quite early) and made us all wait some more.

“Well, 1 day late but “baby victory” has thrived inside all the way (past) his/her due date! We honestly thought we’d have a preemie and God has seen fit to continue the miracles. Around here we have started praying this baby evacuate soon cause… Mommy is tired and we’re ready to meet him/her! Yet, we are overwhelmed with gratitude that we have made it this far. Happy 40 weeks, baby cakes! Now hurry up on out here and show us your sweet face!!!!!!!! (Please 😁)”

When June made it’s appearance, and we still didn’t have a baby, impatience kicked in.

“Castor oil smoothies and a big brother who likes to pull all the birth supplies out of the closet… These are the things 41 weeks of pregnancy have brought me. 😊 Praying for a baby this weekend and praying desperately we don’t see 42 weeks!!!”

This was posted at 9pm. Contractions started at 11pm. and Elaina was born at 1:30am on June 4th, 2016! We couldn’t believe we actually had a girl!

July was jam packed with family in and out of town, a wedding we participated in, a couple of trips, and a reunion weekend with dear friends. We’ve spent August preparing to launch into support raising in our “spare time” and we continue to stand amazed at how quickly both kids are growing and changing. Lincoln is starting to talk which is hilarious and so fun! He’s convinced he’s telling stories and “talks” his way through each day. He does say quite a few words clearly, but then fill in with a lot of gibberish. Elaina just started to roll over, and has held her head high since she was just a couple weeks old. She finds Lincoln quite entertaining and smiles huge grins at anyone who is willing to make eye contact. The two of them bring us so much joy!

 

There were so many people waiting for you! That morning your Uncles Luke and David, Aunt Courtney, Grammy, and Grandad were all waiting downstairs, with Aunt Kristi on Skype, just hoping you were going to make your appearance soon. So, once you did everyone was very excited! Daddy got to take you and introduce you in the stairwell, and after a little while everybody came upstairs to say hello and pray for your life. It was the best! Eventually we got all cleaned up and took a nice long family nap… And then the real adventures began!

 

You grew steadily bigger and by April weighed a whole 14 pounds! You decided you loved reading stories, and laying on your play mat talking to your animal friends.

In June you got really good at scooting yourself across the floor, and continued working on sitting up. One of your favorite things to do was putting your head down and frantically “swimming” as fast as you could, hoping that it would move you across the floor. Only sometimes would you get frustrated when you were still in the same spot as you lifted your head. You also participated in a family “color fight” when we all found out your new cousin in the way would be a boy too!

For 4th of July we headed up to Washington DC to enjoy our 2nd year in a row biking around the capital and enjoying the holiday fireworks. You did great in your bike seat and seemed to absolutely love it! We had a long weekend full of adventures including seeing Aunt Allison who was visiting all the way from Turkey. So fun! You also got your 3rd tooth this month. Gracious! And just to make sure it was a memorable month, you went to your first drive-in movie too.

August got started with it’s own set of big adventures when we headed back up to Maryland for Aunt Renel’s wedding. It was so fun! You were getting really good at crawling and made your way to the mischief you were determined to find.

You got great at pulling standing and liked to walk tentatively around and around the coffee table. At the end of the month you even got to meet your Nonno for the first time, and we made another trip up to New York to see him and and the rest of the crew up there.

September brought you yet another trip as we took a family vacation to St. Theresa. You thoroughly enjoyed your first experience of rocking on the porch in the mornings while we enjoyed our coffee.
In October your new cousin Judah was born! You learned to enjoy playing with blocks, and you cut your 8th tooth this month too! Eight teeth by eight months… We decided you must be ready to start eating food or something.

 

December was a very eventful month as you took your second international trip before your first birthday! We all traveled to Indonesia and Thailand and you made lot’s of new friends. You also took your first few steps! The hard floors in Thailand kept you just a bit nervous about it, but you were brave and started to try.

 

In January you became much more confident walking, but still didn’t want anyone to watch you, or ask you take steps. If left to yourself though, you started taking consistent steps, and by the end of the month would walk back and forth from the bed to the wardrobe in the room we all shared. Your absolute favorite breakfast included a banana and a yogurt drink, and you’d enjoy a mango as an afternoon snack. And your favorite adventure was riding the scooter with Daddy. Since we were stuck in Thailand we had to be creative in getting around and getting things done. Dad would put you in the backpack and head out, and you LOVED it.

 

No one could say our year has been boring, baby cakes, that’s for sure! And yet you have thrilled at every adventure and smiled your way through, making friends with anyone.

We can’t describe just how much we love you, and what a privilege it has been to be your parents as you discover this big wide world God has given us to enjoy. We’re so excited that you love people readily and bless them with a big wide grin whenever possible. God is going to use you in this world, among His people, in mighty ways and we can’t believe we get to watch Him work in your life.

We love you, dude!

Mommy and Daddy

It’s been four weeks since that fateful morning dawned. Four weeks of bedrest. Four weeks of changed plans. Four weeks of waking up every morning wondering if today will hold some good news, or more that’s hard to swallow. Four weeks of daily surrender to a God who’s plans are better than mine (whether I understand how they could be or not.) Four weeks of missed holiday and family events on the other side of the world.

Four weeks of concentrated family time as we share one room and Daddy doesn’t have to go to work every day. Four weeks of watching Lincoln grow up right before our eyes. Four weeks of time with Thai friends and enjoying the community here. Four weeks of market runs, scooter rides, and eating piles of delicious Thai food. Four weeks of watching God daily provide for our needs in ways we could have never dreamed possible. Four more weeks of enjoying the daily squirms and flutters of “baby victory” as they continue to grow big and strong.

Friday marked 20 weeks gestation for our “baby victory.” When I realized it I cried. With the uncertainty the last few weeks have held, my emotions have been… distant and reserved. I haven’t even been able to consider what it would be like to hit these pregnancy milestones!

Approaching our 20 week marker, we’d been told Tuesday evening that the clot had shrunk by 1 cm. which was wonderful compared to the weekly reports we’d been receiving that it was still growing.  Thursday held it’s own fair share of excitement. Chris and Lincoln packed up to head to immigration, fighting for a medical visa extension so we could all stay on. I woke up and passed a very large blood clot, significantly larger than the one we had been monitoring these past weeks. Especially with the size of it, we were concerned that passing the clot would disrupt the uterine environment to the point of starting labor, so once again… we waited. I laid in bed and prayed, wondering at each twinge and desperately hoping. Hoping that contractions wouldn’t start. Hoping that I wouldn’t see any more blood. And hoping that passing this clot was the “next” miracle we’d been praying for.

An ultrasound Thursday night, after resting all day, showed only a tiny sliver left of any blood clot. Fluid levels looked good around baby, and all growth had continued as normal too. We were told to come back in for a check on the 19th. We were elated! And…. afraid. This was by far the best news we’d had since our saga started, and yet we’d spent weeks preparing our hearts for the hard “what ifs” we could imagine were still ahead of us. We’d been told various components of my situation makes flying unwise, so we were preparing to be “stuck here” until baby is due the end of May. Our prayer had become that if God wanted us to consider flying before May that He make it abundantly clear that HE was involved in my healing process. We are praying for another miracle.

Since passing the clot on Thursday we’ve been praying that there is absolutely no more bleeding. We know that externally God has answered that prayer, but we won’t know about the internal till our check on the 19th. And if it’s clear again then, we may actually be able to make some plans to get home!

In the meantime our little fighter is still with us. Halfway there! We’ve come so far and we couldn’t be more grateful for God’s infinite grace.

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. 

Mister man, 

Baby cakes, you are kicking and squirming all over the place these days! And it is a joy to experience. I sure enjoy feeling you moving around. After five long months of always wondering how you were doing, it’s nice to have a little reassurance that you’re actually in there! Your squirming reminds me a little bit of how my tummy feels when I’m doing flips on a roller coaster, or plummeting from high places. Pretty regularly it takes me off guard, but then I just wave “hello” back to you and cherish all these “firsts” we’re experiencing.

A lot has happened in the last ten weeks. While you were squeezing your way up and through my pelvis you had me in a whole lot of pain, kiddo! I could barely walk for several days at a time and had a two week period where I wasn’t sure what the rest of pregnancy would look like when it came to working… or walking! Thankfully you popped up above the bones and ligaments (for now) and things have been great ever since. God orchestrated things perfectly so we were able to go to Orlando for our orientation with PI and I survived two eight hour car trips and four days of non-stop meetings with little to no physical pain… whew… what an answer to so many prayers.

The last couple months have been full of transitions in a lot of ways. Some of our closest friends have moved away, and others will be soon. Daddy’s been working so hard at his job and trying to get everything sorted out there (so hopefully he’ll have a more normal schedule by the time you come along!) Mommy has started meeting with a group of mom’s to pray for you and the rest of the little ones. We joined PI and were finally able to start the process of actively planning our next steps toward ministry overseas… and in the midst of it all we are so very aware that our  life is in the process of changing dramatically!

We’ve been planning your room and how we’ll add a couple of walls in the corner of the living room to give you your own little space. Daddy’s been building his own space too by adding a shed outside where he can do repairs and keep all his tools.Our mantra for this fall is, “Cleaning out and cleaning up. Making room for BabyStev!”

I’ve meticulously scoured the internet for affordable (and gender neutral) decorations for your nursery. I’ve piled up your registry with lot’s of fun stuff! Oddly enough, the items I’m most excited about at this point are the crib comforter I found you from Ikea, and this adorable, and applicable, artwork!

My favorite part of the boring white comforter is the fact that we can put whatever duvet cover on it we want! My current idea is to make you a duvet with some fun fabric to match your room, but we’ll figure that part out later. Your Daddy and I sure LOVE our comforter and duvet, so we’re banking on you being pretty excited about yours too. I sure am enjoying finding things for you!

In the next couple weeks we get to go on our first (and last) extended vacation since our honeymoon. We put it in the calendar months ago, and have been looking forward to our 10 days at the beach with MUCH anticipation. We can’t wait to have solid time to pray, process, dream, rest, read (parenting books) and have a lot of pure fun. And, we can’t wait to take you on our next vacation! It’ll be fun in a whole new way.

Hey babycakes,
We got to hear your heartbeat last week! It was by far the most joyful moment in pregnancy thus far.

This last twelve weeks have been some of the most nerve-wracking I’ve had in a long time. I’ve been so worried about you! Worried about how you are growing. Worried about how safe you are in there. Worried about how you’re feeling with your mama worrying so much! Yes, your mama worries a lot and I sure hope you don’t inherit those genes!

You, my love, have grandparents and a whole slew of aunts and uncles that are very much looking forward to having you out here enjoying the world with us. And they were thrilled to hear that your heartbeat was so strong and steady. Alex had no trouble finding it at all, and it beat loud and proud at 170 beats a minute. What a beautiful sound! I could have jumped up off the bed I was so excited!

With a positive appointment and the knowledge that your heart is beating steady, your daddy and I prepared to start telling family about your upcoming arrival. And what a process it was…. full of joy… and some extra effort. You see, babycakes, our family lives all over this planet. Literally!

We started with the Fain side of the family because we had organized a family dinner with Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Luke (or Uncle Jesse as he’s decided he wants to be called.) With the five of us all together here in South Carolina we asked David and Courtney, who are in Ohio, and Mom, Dad, and Aunt Kristi, in Thailand, to get online so we could all talk together. With the wonders of technology we had the whole clan together “face-to-face” to share our happy news. There was much chaos, technological difficulties, and a whole lot of fun.

Coordinating with the Stevanus side of the family is a bit more complicated due to the time difference difficulties. We were finally able to arrange a call with your Nonno and Nonna in Italy on Sunday afternoon as we drove home from Washington DC after July 4th weekend. Once we had been able to tell them we made our rounds through the rest of the aunts and uncles spread throughout New York and Virginia. A memorable part of the evening was sharing with Yia-Yia that she’s a Pro Yia-Yia. You’ll have five great grandparents, kiddo!

And quite the cultured bunch they are TOO. Pro Yia-Yia is Greek, Grandma Marge is Italian, and Grandpa and Grandma Scovill spent over 50 years in ministry in Indonesia and among the Dani. You’re coming into quite a heritage my love. Dad already dreams of teaching you at least 5 languages to get you started. In all seriousness we plan to speak Italian and English in our home so you’ll learn early and quickly, and be able to speak with family and friends in Italy. And Uncle Ozgur will teach you Turkish so you can speak with those cousins. You’ve got so many adventures ahead of you! Many of them will be so very fun, and many of them will be hard too…

Your daddy and I feel acutely the reality we’re bringing you in to, as we continue following God on the journey He’s asked of us. We’re so excited to love and serve others by sharing of Christ’s sacrifice for us in a cross-cultural ministry context. Growing up in a similar way we are thrilled for the broad worldview you’ll develop from an early age. And we can’t be more excited to help you learn how God has designed YOU to share His love with the people around you, wherever we serve as a family. Yet, we also know how hard some parts of it can be. The good-byes and the distance are always going to be hard. It’s never going to be fun to be far from our family and friends. We can hope and dream that we’ll all end up in some semblance of close, but we just don’t know yet. And that’s all part of the leap of faith God asks of us.

If there is one thing I want you to start learning, even now, it is that trusting God is so very worth it. Sometimes He asks things of us that just don’t make sense. Sometimes life seems so much harder than it needs to be. And yet, God is so very sovereign. He works out the fantastic and painfully difficult things that this world throws at us, and makes them into what is very best for us. He teaches us so many incredible lessons through the big and small details that make up our lives. And sometimes He asks us to sacrifice things… and we can trust that the sacrifice will be all worth it. Your dad and I are so looking forward to continuing to learn what it looks like to follow God’s leading on our lives, and through His grace and mercy, teaching you to do the same. He’s the only thing that makes it all worth it, honey, and He is so very worth it.

Watch our announcement video here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTIRBpbfAJU