As you know, we adopted our triplets as frozen embryo's from an organization called the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) in Knoxville, TN. I just wanted to shine a brief spotlight on them in today's post. The whole concept of "embryo adoption" is a fairly new concept. It was born out of the many couples using IVF to conceive and the dilemma it created when many extra embryo's were left over. These fertilized eggs have brought about much ethical discussion. Many have been donated to science, others have been destroyed, while still others have been cryopreserved (frozen). It was in the late 1990's that the Christian Medical and Dental Association approached Dr. Jeffrey Keenan with the idea of creating a medically based non-profit embryo donation clinic. Originally part of the Baptist Health System in Knoxville, the new organization began assembling its team. By 2003, the NEDC had received several sets of embryo's and began the process of matching them with adoptive families. By 2010, the NEDC had significantly increased their success rates and began growing in popularity. Since its inception, they have performed approximately 750 transfers. On their official website they state -
"Our Christian faith is the overriding principle upon which we operate. As an organization guided by our religious faith and protected by the Constitution of the United States, the NEDC firmly believes in the sanctity of life beginning at conception and recognizes marriage as a sacred union between man and woman as defined by scriptures of the Holy Bible."
On May 24, 2015, the NEDC welcomed it's 500th baby into the world! Congratulations to this outstanding organization! While we recognize that only God can give life, we will forever be grateful for those He used to bless our family with three more!
***Also of interest - our triplets marked numbers 425, 426, and 427.
In other news WE HAVE A WALKER!!! Keira has recently discovered this new mode of transportation and is pretty proud of her accomplishment.
Yeah, so that's my little princess with her finger up her nose. Like, WAY up her nose. While she is cute as a button, she is most often the culprit in any given crime.
And this is a common scene around meal time. Three hungry little chickadees.
But the highlight of most days are the abundant baby giggles and bath time fun!!!
One final highlight of the past week, was entertaining 8 extra people in our home as we embarked on our fifth CD recording for Forever Be Sure. There was certainly no lack of laughter, noise, or entertainment. Crazy as it was, the great memories were well worth it and we pray the music will also be used to encourage many for years to come.
Another perk was that while moms and dad were recording, the kids enjoyed a rousing week at VBS!
