Building a Bethards

Something else many of you may not know is that we are foster parents. Through the struggle of infertility and problems with my previous job, though, we chose to close our home while we sought direction on where to go and how to proceed. In December of 2013, after being devastated by the news that we would not be getting the sweet baby whom we both loved so much only a couple of months before, we decided that we wanted to continue the foster process so we opened our home to a sweet 4 year old girl who needed us for about a month before being reunited with her siblings under the care of family members. This little one was sweet, feisty, and more than we were ready to handle when we got her. She spent that Christmas with us, which was fun, and then in January was taken back to her grandparents. After that month we decided that with the continued stress of Drew's job at ACH and my changing jobs that we were not able to fully provide the love and stability that children in foster ca...

How do I even begin this post? One year ago today my sweet grandmother was finally healed. One year ago today my sweet grandmother gained her wings. One year ago today my sweet grandmother met Jesus. About this time last year I got the first call of the day from my mom. She doesn't normally call me when I'm seeing clients for work, so I knew something was wrong. I answered the phone and in a shaky voice she told me that she and dad were leaving for San Angelo to see my grandmother. The hospice nurse who had been caring for my Mamaw had informed my Papaw and aunt that Mamaw only had a few days left and mom needed to be there for the end. Mamaw was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013 and throughout the year her condition deteriorated. Though we all knew she wasn't feeling well she remained her sassy self up to the end. For as long as I can remember, my grandmother was a little spitfire who spoke her mind and talked your ear off with stories about people and pl...

As long as I can remember I've wanted to be a mother. I've always loved babies, just ask my mom. She will tell you how at age 12 I told her I wanted to be a mom. How I loved playing with baby dolls when I was young and as I got older I gravitated towards babies and kids. She will tell you how I always asked to hold babies at church. I've loved babies as long as I can remember. My love of babies and children eventually led me to get my bachelors degree from Baylor in Child and Family studies. Which led to a career in Child Life. Then eventually to my current position as a developmental therapist. This love is what has made the last almost 18 months so incredibly painful. As I sit here on cycle day 5 after our second failed IUI attempt--one that carried a 25% chance at success, one with medications both pills and injectables, one that I was able to feel so hopeful about--I wanted to share with you all the pieces of my heart that have been breaking all these months. ...