Starting a Family....

Ruby, not long after bringing her home!

Like most couples, my wife Lisa and I thought about starting a family very early in our relationship.  I have a great number of aunts and uncles, and an even greater number of cousins.  My cousins have children, and even my cousin's children have children.  Almost everyone in my family has had children (and many have had multiple).  Our family reunions could be held in sports stadiums.  Simply put, my family procreates like lab rats.

Soon after marriage, our family began with the adoption of our cat Vegas, and we added an English bulldog named Ruby a few years later.  We love our pets, and we loved our "family", but we both had a strong calling for parenthood.  We love being around kids so much that we chose careers around it.  Lisa works with infants and toddlers, preschoolers and elementary school aged children in her job as a youth director.  I work with teenagers in my job as a middle school teacher.

We both shared joy in the birth of our nephews, first Vincent and then Aidan.  We also watched friends begin families of their own, all the while thinking our time was coming sooner rather than later.  Time kept marching on, however, and after months and months of discussions about possibly seeing a specialist, Lisa and I both decided to talk to our doctors about the issue.