Jackson's Nursery

Ray and I are so excitied that next year we will be able to share Christmas with Jackson, celebrate Jesus' birthday,and continue old traditions and start new ones. Last night, on Christmas Eve, Ray and I painted Jackson's nursery. The color of the walls are going to be a blue/gray with a red accent wall. The items that we decoriate the nursery with I want us to have come kind of connection to them. For instance, Ray has his first lil league home run baseball and I am going to cut it open and make a cross out of it to hang in the nursery. My mom (thinks) found my old Radio Flyer wagon that I am going to add wooden slats to use as a bookshelf. Ray's Nana recieved their last name (Jackson) beautifully crocheted for their 50th anniversity and we are going to frame it and use in the nursery. The items going in I want to have a rustic feel to them. The crib bedding that I am really badly wanting is from Pottery Barn that has the madras print on it. Ray and I (check out Ray's shorts in the summer) both love that print and think that Jackson could use it later for his toddler bed. We are so excitied about Jackson and creating the nursery that we wanting to share with the people that mean the most to us. Thanks for all of your prayers and kind words!!


                                                            The rule is I have to cut in

 

Ray always rolls

 

 

1st coat of paint

 

My dream crib bedding

 

Love homemade items

 

Love this!!

 

This is not Ray's baseball. This is the picture I got the idea from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Blessings

I am so sorry that I haven't wrote in the past couple of weeks, but with schools coming to an end for break and Christmas gatherings I kept saying I need to blog I need to blog. So this morning I got up early and wanted to give everyone alittle update on how things are going.

 I wanted to show you how God has blessed us with such great family and friends that are supporting ever decision we make about baby Jackson. Last night I was adding the last couple of puzzle pieces and started crying because I remember when this puzzle was just an idea and now it's a piece of art with LOVE and SUPPORT. Thank you everyone for everything you have and will do for Ray, baby Jackson and I. All of you are amazing!! ** I am sorry that some of the pictures are sideways I couldn't figure out how to turn them**

 

 

Baby Jackson

Saturday night while waiting for our table at Texas Roadhouse Jackson's birthmother called. We chatted and were discussing her upcoming doctors appointment when she asked me if Ray and I had thought about baby names. Ok, I need to tell you that we hadn't told her that we really wanted to use the name Jackson yet. So I told her that Ray and I had already discussed that no matter if we adopted or had our own son we really wanted to use the name Jackson because it was Ray's Papa's last name. Ray's Papa (Papa Ray) was a very influential person in our lives and we wanted to be able to remember him in this special way. Papa Ray wasn't able to see many memoriable moments that Ray and I have been able to share together. After sharing this information with the birthmother she starts to tear up and says that there's no way that Ray and I had picked out that name. I ask what she means and she shares with me that if she was able to help name the baby that's the exact SAME name she had picked out. You can't say that all of this is coincidence. This is truly GOD at work. GOD has his hands on Ray and I, birthmother and baby Jackson, and the overall situation. Ray and I are so excitied about welcoming baby Jackson into our family and wait for all of you to meet him.


When you look up the meaning of Jackson you will find son of Jack. When I looked up the meaning of Jack I found GOD IS GRACIOUS!!

Adoption Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own custom photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Putting the Pieces Together

Ray and I are so excitied that we were able to talk to the birthmother Friday night. The conservation went great. What are the chances that the birthmother and I would have the same middle name SHEA!! Both of us were both surprised. So now that we have been matched with a birthmother we have been praying that God will continue to guide us through this journey. We have to turn in a big part of the adoption fee tomorrow. God has provided this far and will continue to provide, but we would like to ask for all the prayers that everything lines up with the finances, my maternity leave, birthmother, and baby Jackson. When baby Jackson is born we will have to travel out to Arkansas to get our bundle of joy and those expenses are not included in the adoption fees. So, we are nervous about how we will travel to Arkansas and how long we will be out there because we have to finalize the adoption under Arkansas law. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. God is so evident throughout this whole process. If you would like to sponsor a puzzle piece you may contact me at
864-541-3544 or sheagowan@gmail.com or 330 Berryhill Drive, Boiling Springs, SC 29316.


                               A special thanks to these people for sponsoring a puzzle piece.

 

                                                 A picture of a whale has finally appeared!!!

One Phone Call

Today was the day that Ray and I have been anticipating a lifetime. At 4:53 P.M. I received the phone call that would change our life forever. Our lawyer called to tell us that they have a baby boy for us!! Currently we don't know very much information except that the birthmother lives in Arkansas and her due date is March 16th. We lawyer thinks we will have a phone conference with the birthmother tomorrow evening. If everything goes good during the conference we will receive all of her contact information and make a weekend trip out to Arkansas to meet her. Ray and I are so excited that we had to share the news immediately. Thank you for your prayers now and the ones to come in the future. We greatly apprecipiate them. God is GREAT!!

Dreams Becoming Reality

    Ray and I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for all of the prayers, thoughts, kind words, and sponsoring that has taken place over the past couple of weeks. The past couple of weeks have been a whirl wind. We have been busy finishing up home study paperwork, getting fingerprinted for FBI/SLED checks, and making a scrapbook of the family. But with all of your kinds words, prayers, and God leading through this journey it has been an easy ride so far.
    We would like to give a special thanks to Sandra Camp and Brandon Willis for sponsoring the first two puzzle pieces. When I wrote their names on the back of the pieces it finally hit us that this dream is finally becoming reality. After putting the two pieces together I was trying to take a picture to post for everyone to see,but I couldn't stop crying because I could feel the love that was being sent our way by our wonderful friends and family. I know that our special one will feel the love as soon as he or she enters our family. Brandon is a little boy from my class that overheard me talking about the puzzle to a coworker and brought me a dollar to school the next day. I instantly burst into tears and he began crying too. He said that he knew that I would make a great mom and he wanted to help. Everytime I think of this story I start to tear up.

      Thank you again to everyone who has said that they would like to sponsor a puzzle piece. If you would like you may contact me at 864-541-3544 or sheagowan@gmail.com or 330 Berryhill Drive, Boiling Springs, SC 29316. Each puzzle piece can be sponsored at any price and your name will be written on the back. All money will be deposited and put into a special account. After the puzzle is completed we will display in a double-sided glass frame so that at anytime we can see/display everyone that played a role in bringing our special bundle of joy to us. This puzzle will be something that we and the baby will cherish a lifetime. Please watch for pictures to come of the puzzle as it is being built.

Rudolph??

    Ray is always fussing at me because he says that I don't watch for deer or other animals while driving. Just an FYI I have never hit an animal or been in a wreck. If you were to ask Ray that same question he would have to add one to his list now.
    Ray and I were coming home from church Wednesday night. This seemed just like a normal Wednesday night. We were walking to Ray's truck and joking about going to eat at Taco Bell. I LOVE Taco Bell and Ray HATES Taco Bell. We get into the car and I buckle up. When I go to reach for my phone the passenger seatbelt locks. Just like always. Ray is always joking with me that I need a booster seat because I am so short and that's the reason why the child lock always comes on. When we pull out of the parking lot I tell Ray that he better put his seatbelt on. We head toward the best restaurant in the world (haha). I am going through my text messages and telling Ray about my day, what we need to do when we get home, and asking how his day was when all of the sudden I feel Ray hit the brakes (not slam on them). At that moment I look up I see an enormously large buck (8 point, 220 lbs) headed my way. I have always heard that right before you wreck everything slows down and I am here to tell you that this is true. These are the events that I remember that happened in one second but felt like minutes. I remember seeing the buck in the passenger headlights and then feeling the hardest hit that I have ever felt before. I try to glance over at Ray to see if he had ever put on his seatbelt but I couldn't tell. I look up in front of me and see the buck on the hood/windshield then the next image I remember was seeing the buck sliding across into the next lane on its side looking at us. Sometime inbetween all of this my seatbelt had locked and I was screaming because I was pinned to the seat. Instantly I started to smell something that wasn't normal. It was a smell of fear and freon. We were knocked into the grass (almost in the ditch). Instantly I just start randomly crying. I wasn't sure why I was crying, but later after thinking a lot I think I figured it out (will explain later). We drive up to an open spot so that we are out of the way. The smell was filling the truck and I felt like I was going to be sick. I was sweating and thought I may throw up. I tried to open the passenger door but it was jammed. I had to climb out of the back and then set in panic. As soon as the crisp air hit my face I instantly couldn't breath. I put my head between my legs and was able to finally calm down after a couple of minutes.
     I have never expernienced anything like this before. It was one of the scariest events to happen to me. Everything happened so fast and so unexpectly that you don't have time to react. After having time to reflect on this event I think the scariest part was thinking that I didn't know if Ray had put his seatbelt on and that within a second I could loose him. Then of course that started making me think about all of the things that we as a couple haven't experience yet and Ray hasn't experienced yet as a husband and one day as a father. I never want to have that helpless feeling again. Ray if you are reading this I love you so much and don't ever want to experience anything like this again but if I do I want it to be with you. You truly were my knight in shining armor that night. I have to say  that GOD was truly with us. God had his hands on us and protected both of us.

Our Journey

     Ray and I have had our ups and downs with trying to start our family. We knew from the beginning that we wanted to start a family soon, but I wanted to get my Masters. I was so afraid if I didn't do it soon that I would never go back and get it. Nearing the end of my degree we decided it was time to start. We tried, tried, tried, oh wait and tried. We tried for a year then I went to my OBGYN. They tested my progesterone for months and months and I never got any answers. I switched OBGYNs and started to get answers. Well I thought. They tested everything under the sun. They didn't find anything abnormal so they referred us to PREG (Piedmont Reproductive Endocrinology Group). We discusses our situation with the doctors and decided to try an IUI. The IUI did't take so we knew right away we wanted to do another one. We did another IUI a couple of months later. The IUI took and we were PREGNANT! I was pregnant for 7 weeks before I miscarried. This was very upsetting for all of us. After 1 1/2 we had finally got pregnant and lost it so fast. But we knew that God had a reason and we were at peace. We decided to take a break and think about what we wanted to do after Christmas.
      While working at Sports Camp at church this summer we learned about a young lady that was contemplating adoption. Ray and I had discussed adoption when we first got married since we have several friends that are adopted and have seen the impact it has had on their lives. We prayed for several months and God lead us to the young lady. Over several months I got to know this young lady and discussed her situation. The time came and she had a beautiful baby. She decided to parent. We were both at peace with her decision and pray that God had his hand on her and her baby. This situation really made us think that God may have lead us to adoption.
        This is where our new journey begins. We have felt that it's Gods plan that we pursue adoption. We are trying to raise money to help with the adoption of a new addition to our family. With adoption being so expensive we are going to need to fundraise to make this dream come true. We are asking that friends and family sponsor a puzzle piece. We will write your name on the back of a puzzle piece.As puzzle pieces become sponsored we will build the puzzle. The completed puzzle will hang in the nursery. This way everyday we can reflect on every special person that helped to bring our bundle of joy to us. This will be a special way for our bundle of joy to see just how important they are, not only in our lives but our family and friend's lives.
           Ray and I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to read our blog. We know God will bless us no matter what. If you would like to sponsor a puzzle piece please contact me at sheagowan@gmail.com or 864-541-3544. Thanks again and God bless!
      

Ray & Shea

Hi everyone. This is my first time blogging so I hope with practice that I become better at it. This blog is to give everyone a little insight into what my husband and I have been going through the past 2 1/2 years. Ray and I have been married for now 4 years (best years of my life). We both love to travel, watch sports, and hang out with our family and friends.


First Christmas 2004

 

 

Aruba 2010