A hint of God's faithfulness...meet Ezekiel Timothy Groman

The most amazing thing happened last week....
This little bundle of joy was added to the Groman Family :)

Meet Ezekiel Timothy Groman...a baby that opened me up to God in a whole new way.

Proud Aunt Laura seeing Zeke when he got home from the hospital!

Here's the story...

As you all know, my in laws Tim and Beth have been trying to adopt for about a year now and when I got the call in March that there was a possibility that a new addition could come in May, ON MY BIRTHDAY, I was way more than psyched!  Well, Zeke didn't make his arrival on my birthday, but he did make it eight days later.  But here's the thing, I had no idea this little boy would impact my life so much.  You see, I have always prayed since I was a little girl, but this new addition had me praying like never before.  I have never in my whole life prayed for something so often, so consistently, and so intensely.  For the first time and with someone so dear to me, there was nothing I could do to help Tim and Beth have a child.  I couldn't make them have a baby, I couldn't pull any strings to get a baby to them any faster, there was nothing I could do...but pray.  And I have never felt such an urge to pray for something so passionately than in March when I heard the news of a possible birth mom choosing Tim and Beth.  From that day, until 5:30 AM the morning he was born, I prayed every single day, multiple times a day.  Every time I thought about Beth (which was quite often) I prayed.  Because of Zeke, I has seen and experienced God like never before.  Because of Zeke, I learned that what the Bible says is true, that God will give you the desires of your heart.  I whole heartedly had every piece of my heart praying for this little boy to be the child that God had planned for Tim and Beth from the beginning.  And when I saw him for the first time in Fort Wayne the day he came home, tears welled in my eyes as I saw God's faithfulness through this little baby.  Zeke to me is a physical form of God's faithfulness that I have never experienced before through such persistent prayer.  I am blessed to be apart of this little one's life and I owe him a lot for showing me how truly big our God is.  I love you Zeke and can't wait to give you a cousin to play with soon!

Tim and Andrew setting up the Pack And Play

Uncle Andrew with Ezekiel

How do you not fall in love with him?!

This is going to be one spoiled baby :)

And this is the face I will never say NO to :) Sorry Tim and Beth!

Although it is out of focus, I love it :) Mommy and Zeke...so happy!

Something to be proud of :)

Happy 28th Birthday to me and Happy 5th Birthday to Jaeden!

Hi Everyone! I have a few more things to be proud of lately...

First and foremost, I have lived to celebrate another birthday and for that I am grateful! Although the teaching life has consumed me once again and I have been spending HOURS working on IEPS for the kiddos, I haven't had much free time, but my hubby made me leave work so that he could take me to my favorite sushi restaurant in Findlay...and it was amazing as always!  I woke up the next morning (my real birthday) to a card and a Reese's cups, and to even more of a surprise, and small box behind the card. The chain on the necklace he got me last year for my 'I beat cancer' gift broke, so he bought me a NICE new chain that won't break :) Love him!  Andrew had to work on my actual birthday, but I didn't spend it alone! My brother's girlfriend's son, Jaeden and I share the same birthday so my whole family went to Chuck E Cheese! I had a blast! Pizza and family...couldn't ask for a better night!  Our whole family got together again on Saturday for Jaeden's birthday party and we had such a good time, first cook out of the year and first family baseball game!  So funny, I got Jaeden a cowboy hat and western gear for his birthday, so he wore it while we played baseball...well he didn't like some of the calls we made, so he would get his play gun out of his holster and shoot the pitcher :) It was hilarious!!!  All in all, I thank God He gave me another year and I cherish having another year on this earth to seek out the plan God has intended for me.  

                                        

I also ran my second 5K for the Abilities Baseball team last weekend.  Some of my kiddos at school play for this team (it's a nonprofit organization that allows children with disabilities to play baseball and have fun).  Well, we have had awesome weather lately, except for this day...it was 44 degrees and on the last mile, it started HAILING!! Although it would have been easy to stay at home...I ran it anyways and even improved my time...WITHOUT AN INHALER!! YEA! :)  I was certainly proud of myself that weekend, but not only because of my personal running accomplishment, but also because I was asked to speak at the Elida Relay for Life event and share about my cancer story.  It was a very informal event, but it was nice to be able to reflect on my story with cancer and share it with others. Ironically, I love to perform, but I am NOT a public speaker...I get crazy nervous before hand being front and center and would always prefer behind the scenes.  So I knew what I was going to say going in there, but once you have eyes on you and no notes, I just started to speak from my heart and hopefully those were the words God intended for the people there to hear. A lot of teenagers were there, so I wanted to make sure I spoke to them and have them leave thinking more about Life than prom :)  And I could have gone on and on (my blog proves that ;), but I knew people only really listen to the first 5 minutes of a story, so I wanted to make it short and make it relatable to the Relay for Life event.  So needless to say, although it was an incredible experience to share my story verbally for the first time, I think I will just stick to my comfort zone...writing :)  Like always, if it's raining - it must be a Relay event.  It was the same day as the 5K, so it was cold and rainy, but Elida did a great job and while I walked a few laps for all those that have a cancer story, I thanked God once again for my Life. What a birthday weekend!  The video below is a little bit of my story that I shared at Relay :)  Thank YOU for sharing this Pursuit with me!

P.S. I have some more really, really, good news coming up and I can't wait to share, so stay tuned to this Life after cancer!  It's about to get VERY exciting!