Happy New Year!

Shane and I have a very special announcement:

I apologize for my absence from this blog for the last few weeks. I have been a bit exhausted, both physically and mentally, from processing all that God is doing. But don’t worry! I have documented each step and I plan to catch you up on the Rosty life in the coming weeks.

For now, allow me to give a more detailed recap some important moments from 2013:

Ministry:

We had a splendid Spring semester as college ministry directors. Every year we are amazed at how God works through our amazing students to grow us and build this ministry. Our ministry trips to Laramie, WY; Ohio; Casper Mountain for youth camp; and Glorieta, New Mexico held incredible memories and opportunities to expand our understanding of God, people, and the world around us.

House:

We continue to work on the house, bit by bit, this year. By the end of 2013, we had a roof, plumbing, electrical, and gas all done! We look forward to moving in the spring of 2014.

Jobs:

Shane received a promotion at NSI, and spent much of the summer as a Team Leader. His role shifted from managing paperwork to being more involved with the students’ program day by day. With the job, God provided a new living situation, which we fell in love with! Our new home is surrounded by cows, lamas, turkeys for Mr. Darcy to chase, a flowing river, and lots of room to breathe. Through various circumstances, Shane’s job shifted back to case-management at the end of the summer. This re-shift came as a blessing, as Shane’s hours as a case-manager were much more conducive to our ministry (and marriage). Still, we are quite grateful the we get to continue living on the campus in our new home. I was able to convert the upstairs loft into my personal writing studio, where I have had plenty of creative space to write.

Summer:

Camping, kayaking, moving, a new job, and enjoying sunshine with family and friends made our summer quite eventful. With a spacious house and a steady job, Shane and I realized it was time to start a family. As we sensed our hearts and the Holy Spirit leading us in that direction, we began to look into adoption and pregnancy. I embarked on a journey to deal with some deep-rooted allergies, get fit, and build healthy-habits. During this time we also registered with an adoption agency in hopes to get into a program to adopt from South Africa. At the time, such a program was not available. As I was pouring all of my time and efforts into adoption research, God tapped on my heart.

Book:

God prompted me to be faithful with what God already gave me. I have been working on a book: a Bible study curriculum to guide young women through the coming of age process, according to God’s Word. In obedience, I set everything else aside and wrote/edited my heart out! I sent in a book proposal to a publisher on October 2, 2013.

Adoption:

It just so happened that 6 days later, an adoption program to South Africa opened up (on October 8th). Our heavenly Father NEVER ceases to amaze me. He called me to obedience, not just to honor Him with the vision He gave me for the book, but also to work out His perfect timing for adoption. We applied, and were the 10th family (out of 10 available spots) to get into the program. Again, God reminded us of His sovereignty. I had no idea how he was going to work all this out.

Through the whole month of October, my mantra was Ecclesiastes 3:11: He will make everything beautiful in it’s time. So many moments confirmed that this was God’s plan for us. Got brought new and old friendships with people from all over South Africa, who are all praying for the day we finally get to pick up our “World Traveler.” Things were falling into place!

In the coming weeks we gleefully slaved over paperwork, surprised at how fast the process was going. We received training that proved difficult and emotional, but so good for us. Jesus was sifting us to become parents in His likeness. Then on November 18 and 19, we had our home inspection and adoption interviews. Again, Shane and I were shocked, but so blessed, at how quickly God was working out the process to adopt.

Baby!

All this time, we were unaware of what God was also doing inside me. Shane and I weren’t expecting any fertility issues, but we did expect it to take a while for my body to get on board with the idea. On Thursday, November 21, just 2 days after we completed our home study interviews, I took a pregnancy test. Never in my life have I been more surprised to see those double lines!

Twins!?

After getting over the initial shock of it all, I wanted to get sonograms to use as Christmas presents for our parents. On Thursday, December 12 we received an ultrasound at Legacy Pregnancy Center in Sheridan. Turns out, we got more than we expected.

I jokingly asked the technician, “there’s just one baby right?” And she replied, “well this is suspicious,” as she circled the arrow around a spot next to the baby, “but I think it’s just your ovary.”

5 minutes later, she transitioned from an abdominal (on the belly) to a transvaginal ultrasound… and her suspicions were confirmed. “Oh, there’s another baby in there.”

“What!?” Shane and I couldn’t believe it. I will never forget laying on the exam table, throwing my hand on my forehead and staring at the screen while the tears started coming. Tears of joy, wonder, confusion and excitement. I also will never forget how Kathryn, another Legacy employee in the room, burst out laughing and clapping for us.

I went home and researched everything I could about twin pregnancies. It took me hours to catch my breath and eat again (which was hard enough as it is). We went to dinner with my dad that night, and played it completely cool. At this point, no one even knew we were pregnant. My dad said, “your little sister is gonna get married and have kids before you two do.”

Shane resisted the opportunity to say, “Oh really?”

I am glad we waited, because our families’ reactions when we told them was sincerely priceless (more on that event later).

Praising God:

The next day, we had the privilege of performing a song for the Legacy Pregnancy Resource Center Christmas Concert. (Seriously, if you have a PRC in your community, please show your support. They mean so much to the men and women with unplanned [and sometimes planned but surprising-anyway] pregnancies.) That night, our song “Rejoice” by Dustin Krensrue, became our anthem for this wonderful season. The lyrics say:

For the one who holds the heavens and commands the stars above, is the God who bends to bless us with an unrelenting love.

God has bent to give us a double portion of His grace this year. We appreciate your prayers for wisdom and relentless pursuit of God’s will as we expect a beautiful family!

Blessings to your 2014. May it be as blessed as ever!

Becky

Stay tuned for weekly updates on my baby-bump, God’s faithfulness through our family-building process, and as always, more Bible Study and relationship tips for day-to-day thriving!